Health inequalities and contemporary youth: young people’s accounts of the social determinants of health in an ‘austere meritocracy’

Young people coming of age amidst widespread socioeconomic uncertainty have a unique vantage from which to interpret how social, economic and environmental factors might influence health and the generation of health inequalities. Despite this, only a small number of existing studies of ‘lay’ understandings of health inequalities have focused on young people. This arts‐based qualitative study builds on that body of research, in the context of the UK, to explore how young people make sense of health inequalities. Across two sites, Glasgow and Leeds, six groups of young people (39 in total) took part in online workshops to explore their perspectives. Throughout they engaged with population health research evidence; contributed to group discussions and responded creatively, via visual and performance art and by articulating their own views and experiences. In this paper, we explore how individual and structural explanations for health inequalities emerged, employing concepts from sociological studies of youth to shed light on these accounts. In particular, we argue that the concept of ‘austere meritocracy’, the persistence of narratives of aspiration and hard work as key to success against an increasingly hostile socio‐economic backdrop, helps explain young people’s perspectives on health inequalities in the UK.