Health and the Social Class

Socioeconomic Status, Race and Healthcare Higher rates of illness among blacks as compared to whites have become a persistent thing over time. At the same time other ethnic/racial minority groups have over the years shown an elevated disease risk for some of the health conditions. This paper will look at how race and socioeconomic status combine to affect health. Health comprises of several dimensions such as loss of functionality, diseases and conditions, disability and even death.

The process of health change within a population is thought to start with the onset of diseases and conditions that lead to loss of functionality and impairment and eventually cause disability or even death. The development of some of the chronic diseases, while they are not recognized clinically until one reaches their middle age is affected mostly by lifelong circumstances that are related to race and socioeconomic status.

Some factors affect the likelihood of people from a certain race or social status will get a disease and at the same time determine whether the disease will eventually lead to loss of functionality, disability or even death (Crimmins, Hayward, & Seeman, 2010). Racial and socioeconomic differences are greater in particular heath dimensions and also vary from one causes compared to others. For instance the death rate in black men from heart disease is higher as compared to that in white men even though they do not differ in the prevalence.

This is also seen in groups of diseases that have been classified as cancer, the death rates from particular types of cancer appear to be less related to socioeconomic status as compared to deaths from other causes.

Some causes of death and disease are affected by the mechanisms through which socioeconomic status works.an example is stress which is an important factor when it comes to hypertension and heart disease, obesity is condition that is commonly found among those in lower socioeconomic status .the socioeconomic resources of an individual affect their health throughout their life this therefore means that people of a lower socioeconomic status will not be able to avoid basic healthcare.

This means that they are susceptible to mots of the diseases since their socioeconomic status makes them a population at risk (Crimmins, Hayward, & Seeman, 2010). We can also look at how racism affects health. First of all it is important to note that racism has made it difficult for members of some minority groups to achieve a high socioeconomic status.

Through the determination of the access to education and employment opportunities, this segregation has played a key role in the creation and reinforcement of racial inequality.it has been generally noted that there are very large racial differences within socioeconomic status leading to health researchers making adjustments for socioeconomic status when they look at the association between race and health. Socioeconomic status is a casual pathway through which race is seen to have an impact on health.

Race is therefore seen as an antecedent as well as a determinant of socioeconomic status and the racial differences that exist in socioeconomic status are a reflection of the successful implementation of the discriminatory policies that have premised when it comes to the inferiority of particular racial groups.one such policy is that of segregation that upheld the belief of blacks being inferior and hence the need to physically separate them from whites. The exposure to racism and discrimination therefore directly affect health adversely (Williams, 1999).

We can therefore say that socioeconomic status accounts for most of the racial disparities that have been observed.