Ethnicity, Class and Health

Résumé du livre

Over the last three decades has been considerable interest in both class inequalities in health, and the health of ethnic minority populations. Until recently these two fields have taken quite different directions. Yet what exactly is the relationship between ethnicity, class and health? How do socio-economic factors contribute to ethnic inequalities in health ? Using both the mental and physical health data from the large-scale Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities and drawing on additional follow-up research, this new report seeks to address these key questions. It brings together and updates two earlier reports by the same author, The Health of Britain's Ethnic Minorities, which provided initial analyses of the health data from the survey. The report first examines the existing evidence on ethnic inequalities in health and the explanations for them. It looks at how rates of illness vary across and within ethnic groups and considers how far differences in health might be consistent across subgroups and generations. It then explores the contribution of socio-economic factors to inequalities in health using data uniquely available in the Fourth National Survey. The report considers the implications of its findings for our understanding of ethnic inequalities in health and raises a number of important theoretical issues for future research in this area. [P. 4 couv.]