Social Stratification and health

Answer

Social stratification is a system where the society series categories of people in a hierarchical format. Four principles guide social stratification. These include the concept being a social trait, persistence over generations, being universal, and involving beliefs and inequalities (Grusky, 2018). An example in the United States is health inequality based on the social-economic dimension of the people. While the people of power have more access to advanced healthcare, the majority of the homeless are not insured thus have limited or no access to quality health. Another example entails the persistent differences between blacks and whites globally. Although the society has made numerous efforts to address these disparities, racism and privilege based on race still manifests.

Social classes are groupings and categories based on similar characteristics or features. Examples of social classes include the upper, upper-middle, middle, lower, and working. Three methods of measuring classes include subjective, reputational, and objective. In the subjective measurement, it is based on an individual’s own perception regarding their position. The reputational measurement method involves community informants making judgements of others in the same society. The objective approach involves categorizing people based on their responses to socioeconomic responses. In modern Britain, the subjective measurement method involves grouping individuals to a particular class based on their perception and images. In the reputational method, it involves how the society categorizes people according to their wealth and other features such as profession (Gurvitch, 2017). For the objective class measurement, it entails grouping people according to their income levels, employment, and net-worth. This information is provided by the individual.

Criterion 2.1

Marx’s definition and structure of classes are based on work and labour and property possession or ownership. According to Marx’s theory, these elements are economic factors which characterize the social relationships in a capitalist society (Kerbo, 2017). This structure confronts the earlier approach which grouped individuals according to the elites or strata concepts but not the economic factors. These included the knights, priests, and military. Besides the two groupings, Marx explores the social relationships as classes which are characterized by struggle and conflicts. To Marx, the two main classes are the proletariat and bourgeoisie. Weber’s description of the class structure is based on the power sphere, and that the social groups are connected to power distribution (Boonstra, 2016). According to Weber, social classes cannot be done based on a single factor such as property ownership. Instead, people use different means to achieve a particular end. Every means may be used to develop the groupings including the status groups. Social stratification according to Weber is complex and consists of overlapping dimensions.

Marx’s description of the class structure is based on the modern approach rather than the traditional strategy where there were strata or elites. A major strength in Marx’s description is the use of economic factor as a single dimension which is definite. Another strength is based on establishing equality in the society and assisting with capitalism. The weakness of Marx’s approach is that some of the social strata face elimination such as religion while private systems of ownership are not recognized which are essential in the society. In addition, Marx’s approach can result in communism. The strengths of Weber’s approach are based on the power sphere which broadly covers the social classes, inequalities, and stratification. Further, it recognizes the differences in the society based on diverse factors including profession, education, and privilege. The main weakness in Weber’s approach is that there is no definite social categorization structure such as economic concepts in Marx’s description. Also, Weber’s approach of power sphere may result in inequality and power struggle in the society based on the different stratification measures.

Criterion 3.1

In social classes, people are classified into social categories according to their living standards, education, and income. Three core categories in this regard are upper, middle, and working. In these classes, there are differences in the accessibility of different healthcare standards. One sociological explanation for the healthcare inequalities is the artefact which posits that the inequality patterns do not exist in actual sense and are illusions established according to statistics. The significance of this explanation is centred on understanding the dynamism in the social classes. For instance, the majority of the aged are poor since their economic status has changed as they age.

Another explanation is the biological one where the differences in the social groups are described according to the biological elements which on the other hand explain the different experiences by the people (Marmot, 2017). For instance, people constantly affected by health challenges mostly constitute the low class in the society while the mentally and physically strong are at the top. Individuals constantly ill will face difficulties in securing a job thus will remain at the low class. The significance of this explanation is to demonstrate that ill health defines and influences the classes but not class influences the health issues.

The biological and cultural explanation is based on the attitude and choices of the people. Notably, the values and norms differ among the working classes. The decisions made by those in the low classes differ from those made by those in the high classes. These include lifestyle, diet, and medicine. For instance, the middle class are more conscious regarding their health and those of their families as compared to those in the low class. As a result, the middle class will adopt healthy lifestyles such as dieting and exercising as compared to individuals in the low classes. The importance of this explanation is reflected in developing screening and EBP programs.

The structural and material explanation is based on the individual’s position in society. While those in the top and middle class are characterized by access to power and wealth, those in the low class are characterized by poverty thus lack the resources to promote their health (Bartley, 2016). The importance of this explanation is to determine the level of treatment for different classes and developing population tailored interventions.

Criterion 3.2

Morbidity is defined as the condition of being unhealthy, sick, or ill. Notably, the illness may be acute or chronic which are distinguished by the development and progress. For the acute illnesses, they have a sudden start and worsen within a short duration while the chronic illnesses progress slowly. On the other hand, Mortality is defined as the death condition (Christensen & Lundh, 2016). In most cases, the mortality is provided as the number of deaths within a given population and time as a result of a specific or general cause. Essentially, morbidities may or may not result in mortality.

The graph of social classes versus age-standardized deaths per 100000 of the age groups reflects on the reduction of a number of deaths as the social classes progress. For instance, the number of deaths is high for both men and women in the routine or manual backgrounds social class as compared to those in the managerial or professional backgrounds. Another important trend is that across the different social classes, the number of deaths in the men age group is higher than that of women. The difference in the number of deaths is more in the manual or routine backgrounds as compared to professional or managerial backgrounds.

Explaining the relationship between social class and health is challenging since there are different factors that should be considered. These factors complicate the relationship. For instance, money, power, and resources are vital elements in explaining health inequalities. However, other factors are considered such as biological which determine the classes. For people constantly ill, their class is affected since they cannot secure a sustainable job position which in turn challenges their wealth and access to quality health. Also, health can be explained by the environmental factors which at times does not recognize the social classes. For instance, an outbreak or pandemic affects all social classes regardless of the wealth or power.