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How do social determinants of health contribute to disease
The gap between the poor and the rich
How do social determinants of health contribute to disease
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If I were to tell you that based on your economic standpoint in life that that in its self could help determine the future of your health, would you believe me or call me absurd? A recent documentary called “Is Equality Making Us Sick” takes a strong argument to show that the life you grow up in or even build for yourself can determine such a factor that seems only fitting for God to decide. This factor is called social determinants of health, meaning that based on your access to income and education this will help determine your life span (UNNATURAL CAUSES). Social, as well as income inequality will be what puts you on your death bed and is a matter that shall not be taken lightly.
So, how is it in a country as flourished as The United States
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Social stratification is commonly referred with the theorists Karl Marx and Max Weber. Though both of their theories are similar, the issue that we face today presents a more accurate representation with Weber I believe. Weber unlike Marx believes that class divisions derive not only from control or lack of control with the means of production but from people’s skills, credentials, and/or qualifications (Essentials to Sociology). To an individual this can mean all the difference. “Workers seek higher wages, and see this as the goal of their struggle,” (Shortell) which proposes the next question: how do we achieve a higher …show more content…
Without an education, there is little to no jobs for a person to survive by. This does not mean that if you do not have an education that it will lead you straight to poverty but the statistic are staggeringly high. According to DoSomething.org, “a high percentage of young adults (31%) without a high school diploma live in poverty…” Those that do earn a college degree on average will earn $20,000 more a year as a result of gotten that degree (Essentials to Sociology). This correlates back to your health. On average, you will live 2.5 years longer due to your college degree (UNNATURAL CAUSES). If our solution to a well income is a college degree then why aren’t more people getting them? The answer to that isn’t “why not send everyone to college” but what is stopping them to get there. College cost money and to the people living in poverty, most are living pay check to pay check just to feed their families. They are in a constant loop that does not give what sociologists call intragenerational mobility. Intragenerational mobility is the movement up or down a social stratification hierarchy within the course of a personal career. That being said, the reality for a person to have an increase in inflation within his or hers career is not very likely within today’s poverty line. Take in example Corey Anderson from the
America is supposedly where all men are created equally, yet society has created a hierarchy based on socioeconomic standing and political power. Theorists Karl Marx and Max Weber has applied their theories of social class on the model of social stratification; a system in which society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy. According to Karl Marx, the main classes of society are the bourgeoisie and the proletariat; those that are the owners of the means of productions and those who work for it. On the other hand, Max Weber argued that there is a multidimensional ranking rather than a hierarchy of clearly defined class. America has created a social system in which those of middle and lower classes tend to struggle to decrease the gap within
Long, Russ. "Social Class (Stratification)." Introductory Sociology. Del Mar College, 16 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
Not everyone can afford it . Some just don't meet requirements. But now everyone needs to go to college and get a bachelor’s degree or higher . The world is becoming too competitive with everyone seeking a well paying job that even offers health benefits . People can be influenced to go to college because of the money . The world has become of money . Everything is money . We need money to live with no struggle in this Economy . People are also influenced by their dreams , their family , or just fod the experience . Whatever influences a person to go college they need to go
Over the past years, getting a college degree has been the pathway to a settled career. College has been a reason for people to carry on after high school. Now that tuition has been raised, getting a degree seems to drain students with more loans and could be in debt. College has been raised to the point where people rather start working at a minimum wage than continuing with school. Working in a part-time job would be an easier choice rather than pursuing a degree.
Social stratification as defined by Brinkerhoff et al. is “an institutionalized pattern of inequality in which social statuses are ranked on the basis of their access to scarce resources” (Brinkerhoff et al. 152). By scarce resources, many people have to deal with poverty and having a lack of money to buy the things they need in their lives. Social class is defined as “a category of people who share roughly the same class, status, and power and who have a sense of identification with each other” (Brinkerhoff et al. 155). Your social class has to do with your socioeconomic status along with the power and connections you have. Social mobility on the other hand is “the process of changing one’s social class” (Brinkerhoff et al. 153).
Clark and Lipset (1991) explain that looking at class theories that has been a lot of change in class and it has altered the concept of class toward the fragmentation of stratification. Clark and Lipset (1991) further explains that changes have occurred since Marx and Weber write their view on social stratification and it went into high gear since 1970s. Clark and Lipset (1991) acknowledge a change for the theories of stratification is that traditional hierarchies is declining and economic and family hierarchies is less than generation or two ago. Clark and Lipset (1991) explains that class conflict declines, there would be less conflict or organized lines, for instance gender. However, not all hierarchies are generating counter-reactions and there is an acceptance of democratic process to allow the opposition to surface. According Clark and Lipset (1991), “the key trends could be described as one of fragmentation of stratification: the weakening of class stratification, especially as shown in distinct class-differentiated lifestyle, the decline of economic determinism, and the increased importance of social and cultural factors, politics is less organized by class and more by other loyalties, the slimming of the family and social mobility is less family-determined, more ability and education
Education can help Americans receive a well paying job and lead to less low income families. A quality education allows people to feel accomplished and empowered to get a job that could help their family and their financial needs. According to an article by the Global Partnership, education reduces economic inequality and “If each [employee] from poor and rich backgrounds receive the same education, the disparity between poverty would decrease by 39 percent” (“5 Ways Education Can Help End Extreme Poverty”). In an article by William Bennett, states that American companies estimate that currently there are 3 million jobs available. The downside is that the children are poor and lack the education to fulfill those jobs. The government needs to provide more affordable schooling so that young adults can obtain a higher education to earn a higher salary. Currently, The U.S. Census Bureau reported that in 2014 the poverty rate of people twenty-five and older was 12 percent. Figure 1 demonstrates the statistic provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. It clearly displays that Americans who obtain more years of schooling and further their education, display a lower poverty rate. In 2014, those who have obtained no high school diploma show a greater poverty rate in relation to those who do have a bachelor degree. For example, Americans who have no high school diploma have the highest poverty rate at 29 percent. In contrast, Americans who have Bachelor’s degrees or higher, have the lowest poverty rate at 5 percent (“How does level of Education Relate to
It’s considered a rarity now days to walk down a major city street and not come across a single person who is fighting to survive poverty. The constant question is why don’t they go get help, or what did they do to become like this? The question that should be asked is how will America fix this? Over the past year, Americans who completed high school earned fifteen point five percent more per hour than that of dropouts (Bernstein, Is Education the Cure to Poverty). According to Jared Bernstein, in his article “Is Education the Cure to Poverty”, he argues that not only do the poor need to receive a higher education, but to also maximize their skill levels to fill in where work is needed (Is Education the Cure to Poverty). Counter to Bernstein’s argument Robert Reich expresses that instead of attempting to achieve a higher education, high school seniors need to find another way into the American middle class. Reich goes on to say “the emerging economy will need platoons of technicians able to install, service, and repair all the high-tech machinery filling up hospitals, offices, and factories” (Reich, Why College Isn’t (and Shouldn’t Have to be) for Everyone). Danielle Paquette, though, offers an alternative view on higher education. Paquette gives view that it doesn’t matter on the person, rather it’s the type of school and amount of time in school that will determine a person’s
What is inequality, social structure and social stratification? According to Study.com social inequality is, “the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society.” Sociology.about.com says, “Social structure is the organized pattern of social relationships and social institutions that together compose society.” Wikipedia says Social stratification, is “a society 's categorization of people into socioeconomic strata, based upon their occupation and income, wealth and social status, or derived power”.
In order to break through the status quo of poverty for generations, there needs to be more efficiency on education. In our current society, establishments would rather hire someone who well qualified with college degree rather than just a high school education. For our modern day survival we need education because it will give up opportunities and help we need to become successful. The higher a person educational degree the more invested opportunity to move up in the ranks in our
If you graduate from college, and want to start a family one day. Your choice in going will amplify your children’s interest in going as well. If you expect your children to go to college but you did not, then who is to blame for their poor decision? Going to college now can start a tradition in your family that could live on for decades. Research shows that someone with a bachelor’s degree makes almost two times more than one who does not have one. High school graduates make an average of $28,000 and college graduates with a four-year degree make $45,500. It is also proven that the unemployment rate is lower for people who have a bachelor’s degree. As a result high school graduates are more prone to living in poverty once out of high school. College should be a requirement because many college graduates earn more than high school graduates. Bill Gates is the most successful man in the world and he went to college. Carlos Slim is the second richest man in the world and he too went to college. What I am trying to say is that the top two wealthiest and successful people in the world have gone to some degree of secondary education. This is not complicated math. If you go to college you will increase your probability of becoming successful or becoming even more
Not everyone has to have a diploma to prosper. And you would be right; Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Stacey Ferreira are just a few of the many successful people without a college degree. Consider this, the top 1 percent of wage earners in the U.S. earn almost $500,000 per year. The odds of anyone making it to the top are low, even with a college degree, but the odds are better than those with no college education. Of those with college degrees, roughly eight in 1,000 make it into the upper field of income earners. For those without a college degree, the odds drop as low as three out of 1,000. While that may seem unrealistic, on average people with a bachelor’s degree or higher earn about $20,000 more a year than those without a
First, the chapters cover stratification. According to study.com “Social stratification refers to a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy. In the United States, it is perfectly clear that some groups have greater status, power, and wealth than other groups.” According to the textbook “Stratification is unequal distribution of valued
Manza, Jeff and Michael Sauder. 2009. Inequality and Society: Social Science Perspectives on Social Stratification. New York: Norton.
Kerbo, H. R. (2012). Social stratification and inequality: class conflict in historical, comparative, and global perspective (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.