Social class would not be a problem if there was no hierarchy and if everyone was given a lot of money but the same amount. This is because if everyone was given a lot of money and it was the same amount then no one would be disadvantaged when it comes to choosing better housing and better care. However not everyone is given a lot of money and this is why they are disadvantaged because they are unable to access the better services for example bupa care. It is for that reason why I believe that this factor is a negative one. Britain is still living with these poor problems for example poverty still exists in some parts of the country. Individuals who live In the upper class have jobs such as barristers, all the high professions of jobs with a good amount of money, then there is the Middle class, this is the class that the mainstream of people in Britain falls in to and this contains professionals, business people, business owners and industrialists. Lower class, these are people who have the low paid jobs and this contains factory workers, other jobs paying low wages and individuals on benefits.
Social class can also affect what types of food a person is able to eat. This is because organic foods are the best types of food to eat however it is very expensive to buy, the higher class would not really be affected because they will be able to afford good quality food. However on the other hand the lower class will be affect this is because they will most likely opt for cheap microwave freezer foods which is usually bad for their health. They will also buy fast foods which are also much cheaper and more convenient for them. If the people In the lower class continue to eat these types of food they are more likely to becomes obese or have problems internally such as they could have a heart attack or they could be affected with diabetes and CHD, if they ever needed medical treatment the treatment the person in the lower class would not be as good as the one in the higher class. This would also affect them because if they have a job they may need to take time off to recover and this may affect their income.
‘Social class also plays a part in families, especially in the development of children. Youth are often taught to fit in with their social class, thus developing a personality that correlates with social status. Educational systems can help or hinder the prospect of social mobility. Although many teachers work hard to ensure against favouritism, this is not always possible, partly because of the stigma attached to social class. Teachers may give special opportunities to certain groups. They may also wrongly anticipate the knowledge or potential of specific classes of children. For example, children from high-class families are sometimes viewed as being more intelligent than those from lower social classes. Sometimes more attention will be invested in the children who have more knowledge attributed to them. The idea that upper-class children are smarter has been passed down throughout the ages, but there is no conclusive evidence to back it up. In fact, lower-class children do not have lower IQ scores than upper-class children as previously suspected’.
. This could have a very negative effect on the Childs health because if they feel like they are being disadvantaged this could result in them feeling lonely, and this could lead to depression and in some cases suicide.
‘Official statistics reveal massive class inequalities in health, Ken Brown and Ian Bottrill, 1999, our unequal, unhealthy nation. All studies show a close link between health and social inequality. The study showed that working class people have more time off work, pay more visits to the doctor and are more likely to be chronically ill. As part of the 1999 General Household Survey, ONS statisticians looked at 1,200 workless households, containing at least one person of working age. They found that 32% of the members of workless households reported chronic illnesses, compared with 12.5% of those in working household.
In the 1980s, two official reports (The Black Report of 1980 and The Health Divide of 1987), both of which highlighted class-based inequalities, were subsequently suppressed by the Tory Government. However, New Labour's consultation paper, Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation (1999) has been widely circulated and finally exposes to full public gaze the extent of "this inequality [which] has widened since the early 1980s.
Over the past 40 years the mortality from coronary heart disease has continued to ride in England among working-class men, whereas among professional men the rate has changed little for the past 20 years. As a result it is now 26 per cent higher in the lower social class compared with the people in the higher social class. This is because men in the lower social class smoked more and exercised less, they were shorter and more overweight, and they had higher blood pressures and lower levels of glucose tolerance. However on the other hand members of a highly-placed social group have a relatively low risk of coronary heart disease.
Obesity, measured by the body-mass index, correlates with social class. Over 25% of women in social classes 1V and V are obese, compared with fewer than 15% of those in classes 1 and 11. Fewer men than women in each social class are over-weight, but there is a similar inter-class pattern. Part of the explanation lies in the inferior diet of working class people: the middle classes eat far more fruit and vegetables and far less sugar. . The people who are in lower class will tend to eat large meals with the aim of just filling themselves up on a low budget which is more convenient for them but not always healthy. The suggestion of having to be really full and budgeting usually leads to a high fat diet. ‘Middle classes tend to eat higher priced foods. Not necessarily healthy but usually contains a lot more fruit and veg. their diets tend to include salads and very rich foods, such as very expensive chocolate pudding Although they have less snacks, they tend to eat three to four small meals a day. However they're more likely to go out to higher priced restaurants. Middle class diets are designed to create the illusion of wealth, looking healthy and delicious, but probably containing far more calories than people realise’. Higher classes tend to eat much smaller meals but regularly. Etiquette leads to leaving more than they actually eat. Foods tend to be of high quality. Not necessarily expensive but always of highest quality and freshly prepared. Higher classes are less likely to snack on junk foods.
During 1971 and 1995, there was a clear difference for the average survival rate for 5 year olds for14 types of cancer between the most deprived and the most affluent was above five per cent and up to 16 per cent for some types of the cancers. The researchers who study with Glasgow University and Leicester Royal Infirmary have come to the conclusion that women in the lower socio-economic groups were three times more likely to develop cervical cancer as opposed to the people in higher class. Professor Michael Coleman of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine says that a major factor is that better off people presses for more thorough investigation and treatment and gets more attention. Consequently, people living in more affluent areas tend to receive better treatment.
A graph showing ill-health in the UK
Diet
An unhealthy diet in today’s society is what is contributing to the number of people dying from heart attacks and coronary heart disease. Many people are putting their own lives at risk by consuming foods which are not healthy for example fish and chips, chocolates, this is extremely bad because what the indivual may not realise is that they are clotting fats around their body and this would worsen their health condition. Young children are extremely at risk of becoming obese this is because they are purchasing fatty foods which is cheap and easier Obesity has increased rapidly lot and this is purely because people are not eating healthily. if they do follow the right guide then they could balance their diet and have a good healthy life style.
However diet does affect many people because they do not really think of about what the consequences of eating fatty foods are, this would affect all social classes because if they were ignorant and didn’t know about the actually harms they are doing to themselves they would not want to do this to their bodies. However some people still are fully are but still enjoy eating the fatty meals.
Obesity is a main public health concern contributing considerably to:
- Type 2 diabetes
- Coronary heart disease
- Hypertension
- Depression
- Cancers
- High blood pressure
- Stroke.
Over the past 25 years the rate of all cancers has increased by 8 per cent of bowel cancer and breast cancer may be avoidable by dietary change.
The Black Report which was a report that was published in 1980 suggested that social class health inequalities in overall mortality (and for most causes of death) showed that health inequalities were increasing due to reasons below. The report set out four possible mechanisms to explain the increase in the socio-economic health inequalities these were Artefact, this is when ‘Population information came from the decennial census while death and cause of death information came from death certificates. An individual may have been described in different ways in the two data sources leading to numerator-denominator bias. The report also noted widening inequalities may be explained by the shrinking of social class V. With fewer people who were completely unskilled, the average health of social class V moved further from social class I. Furthermore, the report noted that the meaning of social class may have changed over time as some jobs disappear and others emerge’.
Social selection: Health determines social position. Somewhat similar to Darwin’s natural selection , i.e. healthy people are more likely to get promoted while unhealthy people are more likely to lose their jobs.
Behaviour: individuals in the lower social classes indulge in comparatively more health damaging behaviour (see behavioural model above).
Material circumstances: poverty causes poor health (see materialist model above).
References
www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/class.htm
by
samimah (student)
