Social Conditions as Fundamental Causes of Health Inequalities: Theory, Evidence, and Policy Implications
Tóm tắt
Link and Phelan (1995) developed the theory of fundamental causes to explain why the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and mortality has persisted despite radical changes in the diseases and risk factors that are presumed to explain it. They proposed that the enduring association results because SES embodies an array of resources, such as money, knowledge, prestige, power, and beneficial social connections that protect health no matter what mechanisms are relevant at any given time. In this article, we explicate the theory, review key findings, discuss refinements and limits to the theory, and discuss implications for health policies that might reduce health inequalities. We advocate policies that encourage medical and other health-promoting advances while at the same time breaking or weakening the link between these advances and socioeconomic resources. This can be accomplished either by reducing disparities in socioeconomic resources themselves or by developing interventions that, by their nature, are more equally distributed across SES groups.
Từ khóa
Tài liệu tham khảo
1982, Inequalities in Health: The Black Report
Presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association
2005, Contributions to Economic Analysis and Policy, 4, 1
House, James S. and David R. Williams.2000. "Understanding and Reducing Socioeconomic and Racial/ Ethnic Disparities in Health." Pp. 81-124 in Promoting Health: Intervention Strategies from Social and Behavioral Research, edited by B. D. Smedley and S. L. Syme., Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Illsley, Raymond and Ken Mullen.1985. "The Health Needs of Disadvantaged Client Groups." Pp. 389- 402 in Oxford Textbook of Public Health, edited by W. W. Holland, R. Detels, and G. Know.Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
1985, Making It Count: The Improvement of Social Research and Theory
Social Conditions as Fundamental Causes of Health Inequalities
1989, Development Dialogue: A Journal of International Development Cooperation, 1, 7
2008, Health United States 2008: With Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans
1998, Socioeconomic Status and Health Chartbook: Health, United States, 1998
2005, The Journals of Gerontology, 60, 27
Rosen, G.1979. "The Evolution of Social Medicine." Pp. 23-50 in The Handbook of Medical Sociology, 3rd ed., edited by H. Freeman, S. Levine, and L. Reeder.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.