Abstract
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 36-42 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Social Science and Medicine |
| Volume | 232 |
| Early online date | 25 Apr 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 31 Jul 2019 |
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Keywords
- health
- inequality
- regional health divides
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Scaling up : the politics of health and place. / Bambra, Clare; Smith, Katherine E; Pearce, Jamie.
In: Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 232, 31.07.2019, p. 36-42.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Scaling up
T2 - Social Science and Medicine
AU - Bambra, Clare
AU - Smith, Katherine E
AU - Pearce, Jamie
PY - 2019/7/31
Y1 - 2019/7/31
N2 - Research into the role of place in shaping inequalities in health has focused largely on examining individual and/or localised drivers, often using a context-composition framing. Whilst this body of work has advanced considerably our understanding of the effects of local environments on health, and re-established an awareness of the importance of place for health, it has done so at the expense of marginalising and minimising the influences of macro political and economic structures on both place and health. In this paper, we argue that: (i) we need to scale up our analysis, moving beyond merely analysing local horizontal drivers to take wider, vertical structural factors into account; and (ii) if we are serious about reducing place-based health inequalities, such analysis needs be overtly linked to appropriate policy levers. Drawing on three case studies (the US mortality disadvantage, Scotland's excess mortality, and regional health divides in England and Germany) we outline the theoretical and empirical value of taking a more political economy approach to understanding geographical inequalities in health. We conclude by outlining the implications for future research and for efforts to influence policy from ‘scaling up’ geographical research into health inequalities.
AB - Research into the role of place in shaping inequalities in health has focused largely on examining individual and/or localised drivers, often using a context-composition framing. Whilst this body of work has advanced considerably our understanding of the effects of local environments on health, and re-established an awareness of the importance of place for health, it has done so at the expense of marginalising and minimising the influences of macro political and economic structures on both place and health. In this paper, we argue that: (i) we need to scale up our analysis, moving beyond merely analysing local horizontal drivers to take wider, vertical structural factors into account; and (ii) if we are serious about reducing place-based health inequalities, such analysis needs be overtly linked to appropriate policy levers. Drawing on three case studies (the US mortality disadvantage, Scotland's excess mortality, and regional health divides in England and Germany) we outline the theoretical and empirical value of taking a more political economy approach to understanding geographical inequalities in health. We conclude by outlining the implications for future research and for efforts to influence policy from ‘scaling up’ geographical research into health inequalities.
KW - health
KW - inequality
KW - regional health divides
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.04.036
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.04.036
M3 - Article
VL - 232
SP - 36
EP - 42
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
SN - 0277-9536
ER -