Abstract
Socioeconomic position (SEP) is a major fault line in contemporary societies that plays an important role in many aspects of people’s life chances, including their health. In this chapter, approaches and challenges to studying and understanding SEP and the impact of socioeconomic inequalities on health and society are discussed. Various explanations for socioeconomic inequalities are presented with an emphasis on the importance of considering factors at multiple levels, including cultural, psychosocial, material, behavioural, and environmental factors. Special attention is given to the influence of SEP-related stereotypes on solidarity and policymakers’ willingness to implement certain policies. This chapter discusses the complexity involved in measuring and explaining socioeconomic inequalities in health and how individual and structural approaches to address these inequalities can impact social justice.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Solidarity and Social Justice in Contemporary Societies |
| Subtitle of host publication | An Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding Inequalities |
| Editors | Mara A. Yerkes, Michèlle Bal |
| Place of Publication | Cham |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
| Chapter | 11 |
| Pages | 117-126 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Edition | 1 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9783030937959 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9783030937942 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 26 Apr 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
Keywords
- Intersectionality
- Lifestyle drift
- Public health policy
- Relative deprivation
- SEP-related stereotypes
- Social causation
- Social class
- Social determinants of health
- Social selection
- Socioeconomic inequalities (or inequities) in health
- Socioeconomic position
