Sociology of Health: Social Class Impact on Life Expectancy, Mortality

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between social class and health outcomes, drawing on a case study from the UK Health of the Nation program. The study examines how social class influences life expectancy, mortality rates, and morbidity across different socioeconomic groups. It highlights the significant disparities in health outcomes, such as the differences in life expectancy and accidental death rates between social classes I and V. The report explores the factors contributing to these inequalities, including maternal education, access to healthcare, and lifestyle-related conditions. It critically evaluates whether lower social classes are responsible for their higher mortality rates, arguing that societal and systemic factors play a crucial role. The report emphasizes the need for interventions to reduce health inequalities, such as improving environmental conditions, providing education, and ensuring equal access to healthcare and resources. The conclusion underscores the importance of addressing social determinants of health to improve overall population health and reduce disparities.

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Sociology of Health, Illness and Health Care
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Introduction
A social class of a person is an indicator of his/her collective characteristics incorporating
education, occupation, and salary. Not all individuals have the same risk of life expectancy or
mortality rates at any given age. The social class of a person can significantly influence their life
expectancy, mortality rate, and morbidity. Social classes create health inequalities among diverse
groups. Health inequalities incorporates the differences that arise in health status or distribution
of determinants of health among distinct social classes. This essay aims to critically analyze the
observation of the research study and also discuss if people of lower social classes are
accountable for their higher mortality rates.
Life expectancy, mortality rates and morbidity
A social class significantly impacts on the individual physical health, their capability to
obtain adequate nutrition and medical care, and their life expectancy. As per the case study, at
birth, the life expectancy of children from social class 1 is seven times greater than in social class
V. This can be attributed to the mother’s literacy level, the nutritional status of the mother,
access to good hospital care and access to safe water. The literacy level of the mother is the most
significant in determining the life expectancy at birth. Maternal education improves access to
resources that can support in improving the infant's health status. Also, the mother has a lot of
knowledge of healthy behaviours that she should undertake, including not smoking and regularly
exercising. Education also may hone the skills that are necessary to enhance the access and
effective use of the health care system. Access to safe water, good hospital care, and proper
nutritional help in reducing complications at birth and also reduce diseases that may occur due to
unsafe water and poor nutrition (Morelli, Rieux, Cyrys, Forsberg & Slama, 2016).
Also, as per the research study, accidental death for children in social class V is four
times more probable to occur as compared to social class I. These accidental deaths result from
fires, pedestrian collisions, drownings, falls, and unintentional poisoning. Pedestrian injuries in
lower social class can be linked to their housing designs that tend to be open to the street.
Children from an inferior social class are more probable to walk to school unaccompanied by a
parent. Also, children from an inferior social class are exposed to faster moving vehicles and
increased volume of traffic. This jeopardizes their safety resulting in accidental death. Also,

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parents of children from lower social class have low knowledge regarding safety, and barriers
like the adoption of preventive measures such as availability and cost contribute to accidental
deaths. The parents are not aware of how to prevent fires, drownings, unintentional poisoning,
and falls. And, they have inadequate funds that can help them in undertaking preventive
measures (Patel, Magnusen & Sandell, 2017).
As the case research postulates, out of the sixty- six leading causes of death among men,
sixty- two occur more common among men from a combination of social classes IV and V than
in the other social classes. The majority of the leading sources of death among men in the world
are lifestyle-related conditions. They include cancer, stroke, unintentional injuries, kidney
diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, pneumonia and influenza, suicide, diabetes, heart disease, and
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Tanaka et al., 2019). One possible reason why more
men from low social classes have an increased likelihood of being affected by the leading causes
of death is because they have low levels of income. Lower-income is directly associated with
poor diet, worse working conditions, fewer social amenities, and poor housing. Also, low
income is linked to smoking, less leisure-time, alcohol consumption, less physical activity,
obesity, and increased blood pressure. These factors make them more prone to the major causes
of death among men (Shaikh, 2018).
Also, as per the study, out of the seventy leading sources of death among women sixty-
four occur more commonly among women married to men in social classes IV and V. Married
women in most instances are classified according to the social class of their husbands. This is
based on the assumption that many married women are inactive in the labour force outside their
home. Hence, the social positions of married women are better viewed as per their husband’s
occupational class rather than their own. According to World Health Organization, the major
sources of death among women include ischemic heart disease, stroke, lower respiratory
infection, diabetes mellitus, diarrheal disease, hypertensive heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease
and other dementias, and breast cancer (van Raalte, Sasson & Martikainen, 2018). So many of
these conditions are manageable if treated early, but women married to men from low social
class tend not to seek treatment early because of lack of sufficient funds. Also, they live in
conditions that are substandard; substandard conditions are linked to difficulties in accessing
healthcare and unhealthy behaviours (Freeborne et al., 2019).

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Lastly, women from social class I have an increased likelihood of experiencing breast
cancer than women in social class V. This is because women from social class I tend to have
economic empowerment. Hence, they have fewer children in their lifetime, have their first child
at a later age, and undertake therapy for hormone replacement. Each of these aspects is linked
with a slightly increased incidence of breast cancer (Büyükavcu, Albayrak & Göker, 2016).
Accountability of increased mortality rates among lower social classes
It cannot be argued that people from lower social classes are responsible for their
increased rates of mortality. But instead, society and various stakeholders are the ones
responsible. Effective interventions should be undertaken to reduce health inequalities. Fresh
evidence and research are necessary to help in understanding what can work, why, and in which
contexts can the disadvantaged groups be assisted and decrease the socioeconomic inequalities in
health (Scambler, 2018). Various governments, governments organizations, and society at large
should undertake the necessary initiatives to help reduce the level of mortality. This can be
through reducing environmental conditions that can result in an increased risk of accidental death
among children and conducting education for mothers to help them take good care of their
children, especially before and at birth (Benzeval & Judge, 2019).
Low social classes are characterized by low access to exercise facilities, fresh produce,
and preventive health programs, which negatively affect their health outcomes and hence
resulting in increased mortality. Society has the responsibility of ensuring equal access to those
services. Also, people from low social classes require adequate education, and hence there
should be adequate investment in education from the government. A good education will result
in good employment opportunities and hence higher income. With increased income, people
from lower social economic will be able to get access to good care and hence reduce mortality
(Cookson, Ali, Tsuchiya & Asaria, 2018).
Conclusion
As discussed above, the social class of a person significantly determines his/her life
expectancy, mortality, and morbidity. A social class influence the capability of someone gaining
access to healthcare services, the level of knowledge, and the level of income. People from lower
social class cannot be accountable for their increased mortality rates. The society and various

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stakeholders ought to undertake various intervention practices to reduce mortality rates among
low social-economic people.

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