Asses The View That Cultural Explanations Are The Best At Explaining Social Class Inequalities In Healthcare

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An inequality is an event which is shared by people, where one group receives something which another does not. This can come in the form of one social class receiving better health care than those of the lower class. The Marxist perspective on health is that there is a definite difference in the way different classes are treated through the health care system. This is because they look at the conflict between classes and believe that many problems could be solved if the class system was abolished. Cultural explanations are that there is a difference just simply because people are in different classes. This can be simply because of cultural capital, or lack of it, or access to money, which naturally the upper classes have more of than the lower class. Cultural explanations such as upper class people know more about health than the lower class could be the defining factor in health inequalities. The fact that the upper class may simply have a better attitude towards diet and exercise may be the reason that they are healthier and live longer. Another reason could be that the upper classes have a higher cultural influence on doctors, and that doctors may be more likely to believe symptoms earlier of those who are in a higher class so that they are able to be treated more quickly with more success. However there are other factors which may cause a divide such as it is more acceptable for lower classes to drink and smoke to relieve themselves of the stresses of their everyday life. Consequently if a lower class person goes to the doctors with lung complaints, and that person smokes, the doctor may not rush tests as they may see it as the person brought it onto them self. There is one more major factor which could be used to explain health inequalities and that is material explanations. Could the inequality be due just to the fact that upper classes have more money

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