Explain the main ways that social class leads to inequalities in health

Sociology of Health
1

Contents
Topic – “Explain the main ways that social class leads to inequalities in health.”.........................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
The theories explaining social class which may lead to inequalities in health and class
divisions defined by ‘Bourdieu’, & Social controls ‘Max Weber’........................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
2

Topic – “Explain the main ways that social class leads to inequalities in
health.”
INTRODUCTION
Sociology of health examines the interaction between health and society. Its main objective
is to see the way social life affects mortality and morbidity rate and vice versa. Health can be
stated as the state of mental, social and physical well-being in which the infirmity and disease are
absent. Social class is defined as the divisions in society on the basis of social and economic
status (Adler, Glymour, and Fielding, 2016). It is a group of people in society who possess
similar social economic status. Social stratification is the categorisation of society of its
individuals into groups on the basis of socioeconomic forces such as education, gender, ethnicity,
income, race, wealth, derived power, social status and occupation. There are some social factors
which affect the health of individuals living in society including unequal access to health care
services, poverty, social stigma, lack of education and racism.
The health inequalities are the avoidable and unjust differences in the health of individuals
across the population as well as among specific population groups. High levels of inequality in
the society adversely affects the health of people as it declines social cohesion, a dynamic which
leads to more insecurity, fear and stress for everyone (Ettorre, 2016). This is an essay report
which is based on the topic “Explain the main ways that social class leads to inequalities in
health”. It covers theories explaining social class which may lead to inequalities in health. Apart
from this, it also discusses about class divisions defined by Bourdieu and the social control
theory of Max Weber. At last, a brief conclusion is provided which covers overall summary of
the report.
MAIN BODY
The theories explaining social class which may lead to inequalities in health and class divisions
defined by ‘Bourdieu’, & Social controls ‘Max Weber’
Health inequalities are the differences in health of people or groups. People from diverse
backgrounds, countries and social groups enjoy distinct levels of health. The term social class,
socio economic position and social economic status are at times, utilised interchangeably and
without consideration of distinct meanings they can carry. Social class is referred as the social
3