Maariyah Anwar
BMC212251202
Can inequality make us ill?
Task 2
Page
1.
Introduction
In this study, I'll look at how sociological factors affect how health and social care are given.
Death and disease can be affected by things like age, gender, race and ethnicity, location, disability,
and social class. I will talk about these differences and how they affect different groups in society, with
a focus on women and people of colour. I will also look at how government groups, like the Office of
National Statistics, use the statistics they collect. I looked into the number of suicides in the UK for this
study. I will show how numbers are used to help people get good services locally and across the
country (Kent). I will also make some ideas about the importance of data and how it could be used to
improve everyone's quality of life and well-being.
(P5)
Social inequality is when people with different social positions or statuses in a group or society have
different chances and benefits. Social inequality is the unequal distribution of resources like power,
wealth, and income, as well as chances (like health care, education, and jobs), and the unfairness
that comes from that. Inequality in modern Britain is caused by things like social class, gender, race,
and age.
Intersectionality is the complicated, compounded way that the effects of different kinds of
discrimination, like racism and sexism, mix and meet, especially in the lives of people or groups who
are already at a disadvantage. It makes it harder to get out of bad times and, as a result, causes more
long-term, chronic illness.
Health inequality is when different groups of people have different levels of health or get different
amounts of things that affect health. For example, the death rates of people from different social
groups are not the same. Inequity is unfairness in health that is caused by society and happens all the
time. Because of health inequality, a person who lives in a poor area may have a shorter life span and
a higher chance of getting sick than a person who lives in a less poor area.
Poor health, not being able to read or write, gender, access to health care, unemployment, work,
education, government policy, socioeconomic status, social isolation, racism, discrimination, and
location are all things that can lead to health inequalities.
Racism causes health inequities because it tends to keep out groups of people who are less
fortunate. Because of racism and discrimination, some groups don't get the same care as others, and
some people might not be able to use the same facilities that we can.
So, coming from a BAME background and living in a poor area are both signs of being sick.
People experience inequality in terms of seven factors. I examine these in more detail below:
Social class.
Race and ethnicity
Age
Sex
Disability
Gender
Geographical region
Social class
Social class is a person's place in a system of stratification based on access to resources like wealth,
land, power, occupation, income, and prestige. It has a top class, a middle class, and a working class.
This happens in every society, and it can be based on any important factor to that society, such as
race, gender, religion, or schooling. Social inequality can lead to social stratification and an uneven
spread of wealth and power.
, Page 2.
Sociologists and the Office for National Statistics use the National Statistics socioeconomic
classification to measure social class. This system splits the UK population into 8 social classes
based on things like how much money they make and whether or not their jobs involve power over
other people. People who do manual or "blue-collar" work have generally been thought of as "working
class," while those who do non-manual, managerial, professional, or "white-collar" work have been
thought of as "middle class."
People from working-class families are more likely to be sick because they tend to have less
schooling, be unemployed, and make less money. In areas of social deprivation, unemployment rates
are generally higher, and people from the working class are more likely to live in public housing than
people from the middle or upper classes.
Race and ethnicity
Race is a way that people in a society divide people into different groups based on their physical
traits. Over time and space, the categories and physical traits that describe them change. The
dominating group is the group that has the most power, advantages, and privileges in society and has
the most of those things. Minority groups are not defined by how few people are in them, but by how
they are treated by society or by the main group. This title is given to people who don't want it, and
they are physically separated from the rest of society. The group traits are more important than the
individual ones.
Throughout history, some groups have been mistreated and left out because of their race. The
Holocaust and Slavery are two examples of this. It makes assumptions based on limited observations
of physical and biological traits. It has been used to separate people and countries and keep them
apart.
The UK is a multicultural society, and there is proof that health and illness are not the same for all
ethnic minority groups. There isn't much knowledge about the link between race and illness, in part
because the UK's ethnic groups are so diverse and it's hard to make broad statements about them.
But there are numbers that suggest:
Most groups of people of colour have higher death rates than the white population. People with Afro-
Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani, or Bangladeshi roots are more likely to get liver cancer, diabetes, or
tuberculosis and die from them than white people. But, with the exception of liver cancer, all ethnic
minority groups have lower rates of cancer deaths than white people.
Up until the 1980s, Britain's Ethnic Monitoring questionnaires usually had three groups for race: Black,
White, and Other. People are more aware of variety now, and people can have more than one race or
ethnicity. Because of migration, there are more people with different backgrounds living in the UK, and
the number of people with two or more backgrounds is rising.
People's health results are also affected by where they were born, which is a very important factor.
Race or ethnicity has nothing to do with where you were born. For example, white people can be born
in the Caribbean.
People from India and Pakistan who live in the UK are more likely to die from heart disease than
people from other countries. People who come from Africa or the Caribbean are much more likely to
have sickle cell disease. (Sproston and Mindell, 2006) People from minority ethnic groups are more
likely to say they are in bad health than people from the main ethnic group.
Age
Age isn't like other protected traits because everyone has it and it's always changing.
Age discrimination hurts both young and old, so everyone is safe from it. Studies show that older
people should be able to enjoy life, but they don't because of things like mental bias. The lower a
person's social status, the more likely it is that they will be in bad health as they get older and die
before people from better social classes. Older people have trouble getting health care because of
, things like being unable to move around or doctors telling them that their situation is "normal for
someone my age." Old people say that they are not taken seriously or heard.
Page 3.
There are more reports about age discrimination than about race or sex discrimination. Feminists say
that the difference in age is caused by sexism. Feminists think that women's power and standing are
affected by things like their age, and that older women face more inequality than older men. Poor
health in old age can be caused by things like not having enough money or not having enough
friends.
Different kinds of ageism:
Ageism that is not harmful and is caused by fear and worry about getting older.
Malignant ageism is a damaging way of thinking about people based on their age, in which
old people are seen as worthless.
Positive ageism is the idea that older people need special care, treatment, or financial help.
Institutional ageism is when an organisation’s policies and practises unknowingly discriminate
against certain age groups, like setting a minimum age for retirement.
Sex
Discrimination is the cause of gender inequality because many women don't have the same chances,
help, or access to the same things as men. Women's health got worse because of this. Some
societies have more healthy norms and traditions than others. People may be less healthy if they
follow the rules or standards of their culture.
Some health and wellness problems are more common in one group than in the other. For example,
women are more likely to have dementia, sadness, and arthritis, while men are more likely to have
lung cancer, heart disease, and kill themselves (Broom, 2012). The common scientific explanation is
that there are biological differences between men and women that can explain differences in health
and lifespan. This has led to gender-specific medicine, which uses science research to explain the
different ways men and women's bodies work.
Feminists usually say that society hurts women by putting limits on them and limiting their chances.
This is kept in place by the dominance of beliefs, theories, and ideas that back and explain why
women are less important than men. Even though advanced capitalist societies made a lot of
progress towards equality in the 20th century, feminist theory says that women are still exploited by
the way society is set up and by deeply rooted cultural attitudes and ideas that work together to keep
women in line.
Disability
Disability is a known physical or mental problem that makes it hard for a person to do one or more of
the most important things in life. It could mean someone in a wheelchair or someone with a learning
disability like autism. Disability discrimination is when someone treats someone badly because they
have a past of disability or are thought to have a physical or mental impairment that will last for at
least 6 months. Ableism is another word for discrimination against people with disabilities.
Disability harassment is unwanted behaviour towards a person with a disability or a perceived
disability. This includes actions that happen often or in a way that makes the setting hostile or
offensive.
Gender
Gender, on the other hand, is a range of options between male and female, including transgender and
non binary. Since the 1970s, people have learned more about gender, but there are still a lot of wrong
ideas. People don't agree on how many ways to describe a person's gender, and new ones are
coming out all the time.
Sexual preference and gender are not the same thing. "Your sexual preference doesn't have much to
do with who you are as a person. It only comes down to who you find attractive. People of all gender
