scholarly journals Visualising Inequality: Modelling disparities in health outcomes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
John Cody
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcome ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Social Disparities ◽  
District Health ◽  
System Dynamics Modelling ◽  
The Social ◽  
Dynamics Modelling

<p>The thesis begins to integrate some contemporary theorising in sociology, frameworks for explaining social disparities in population health, disciplines from System Dynamics modelling, and, D.D. Heckathorn’s model of ‘The Dynamics and Dilemmas of Collective Action’. Wilkinson and Marmot are recognised as leading participants in public discussion of population health disparities. The priorities they advocate are reflected in public statements of intent such as the statutory objective of New Zealand District Health Boards ‘to reduce, with a view to eliminating, health outcome disparities between various population groups . . .’ Sen’s advocacy for impartial governance when allocating freedom-based capabilities is considered as a core strategy for reducing disparities and promoting justice. The main question addressed is whether sociological theory can contribute to understanding the dynamics implied by Sen’s ‘idea of justice’. The conclusion is that the work of Runciman, Coleman, Turner, Lenski, Jasso and Heckathorn can be used to analyse the influence of corporate actors and sectoral strategies, which Wilkinson and Pickett referred to as ‘the elephant in the . . . room’ in discussions about determinants and the social gradient of health.</p>

scholarly journals Visualising Inequality: Modelling disparities in health outcomes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
John Cody
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcome ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Social Disparities ◽  
District Health ◽  
System Dynamics Modelling ◽  
The Social ◽  
Dynamics Modelling

<p>The thesis begins to integrate some contemporary theorising in sociology, frameworks for explaining social disparities in population health, disciplines from System Dynamics modelling, and, D.D. Heckathorn’s model of ‘The Dynamics and Dilemmas of Collective Action’. Wilkinson and Marmot are recognised as leading participants in public discussion of population health disparities. The priorities they advocate are reflected in public statements of intent such as the statutory objective of New Zealand District Health Boards ‘to reduce, with a view to eliminating, health outcome disparities between various population groups . . .’ Sen’s advocacy for impartial governance when allocating freedom-based capabilities is considered as a core strategy for reducing disparities and promoting justice. The main question addressed is whether sociological theory can contribute to understanding the dynamics implied by Sen’s ‘idea of justice’. The conclusion is that the work of Runciman, Coleman, Turner, Lenski, Jasso and Heckathorn can be used to analyse the influence of corporate actors and sectoral strategies, which Wilkinson and Pickett referred to as ‘the elephant in the . . . room’ in discussions about determinants and the social gradient of health.</p>

Social Determinants in the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy E. Parmet
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Us ◽  
Health Laws

This chapter studies the social determinants of health in the United States, focusing on one important but often overlooked social determinant: law. It explains how law influences social determinants and why law should itself be viewed as an important social determinant, one that can both magnify or diminish health disparities. Law can affect population health in numerous ways. Most obviously, laws create, empower, and restrain state, local, and federal public health agencies; regulate the delivery of healthcare; and seek to promote population health by regulating unsafe practices and activities, such as smoking. Health laws, however, are not the only laws that affect health. Laws that affect employment, income inequality, housing, the built environment, and education may also impact health. The chapter then considers some defining features of US law that may play a role in creating or perpetuating health disparities both within the US and between the US and other nations of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. It also reviews some recent initiatives in the US, many but not all undertaken via law, to address social determinants, and it looks at the barriers that remain to ameliorating social determinants through law, as well as some reasons for optimism.

The Complexity of Health Disparities: More Than Just Black–White Differences

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Charles Ellis ◽  
Molly Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Health Disparities ◽  
Clinical Outcomes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
Death Rates ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Language Pathology

Health disparities have once again moved to the forefront of America's consciousness with the recent significant observation of dramatically higher death rates among African Americans with COVID-19 when compared to White Americans. Health disparities have a long history in the United States, yet little consideration has been given to their impact on the clinical outcomes in the rehabilitative health professions such as speech-language pathology/audiology (SLP/A). Consequently, it is unclear how the absence of a careful examination of health disparities in fields like SLP/A impacts the clinical outcomes desired or achieved. The purpose of this tutorial is to examine the issue of health disparities in relationship to SLP/A. This tutorial includes operational definitions related to health disparities and a review of the social determinants of health that are the underlying cause of such disparities. The tutorial concludes with a discussion of potential directions for the study of health disparities in SLP/A to identify strategies to close the disparity gap in health-related outcomes that currently exists.

Conceptual foundations for the development of J.G.Turner’s general sociological theory: Metatheoretical ideas, basic concepts and analytical scheme

2019 ◽  
pp. 40-60
Author(s):  
Volodymyr Reznik
Keyword(s):  
Social Evolution ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Analytical Scheme ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
The Social ◽  
Production Distribution ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
Conceptual Foundations

The article discusses the conceptual foundations of the development of the general sociological theory of J.G.Turner. These foundations are metatheoretical ideas, basic concepts and an analytical scheme. Turner began to develop a general sociological theory with a synthesis of metatheoretical ideas of social forces and social selection. He formulated a synthetic metatheoretical statement: social forces cause selection pressures on individuals and force them to change the patterns of their social organization and create new types of sociocultural formations to survive under these pressures. Turner systematized the basic concepts of his theorizing with the allocation of micro-, meso- and macro-levels of social reality. On this basis, he substantiated a simple conceptual scheme of social dynamics. According to this scheme, the forces of macrosocial dynamics of the population, production, distribution, regulation and reproduction cause social evolution. These forces force individual and corporate actors to structurally adapt their communities in altered circumstances. Such adaptation helps to overcome or avoid the disintegration consequences of these forces. The initial stage of Turner's general theorizing is a kind of audit, modification, modernization and systematization of the conceptual apparatus of sociology. The initial results obtained became the basis for the development of his conception of the dynamics of functional selection in the social world.

Value-driven issues throughout the development of sociological theory

2020 ◽  
pp. 147-160
Author(s):  
Gulbarshyn Chepurko ◽  
Valerii Pylypenko
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social System ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Different Levels

The paper examines and compares how the major sociological theories treat axiological issues. Value-driven topics are analysed in view of their relevance to society in times of crisis, when both societal life and the very structure of society undergo dramatic change. Nowadays, social scientists around the world are also witnessing such a change due to the emergence of alternative schools of sociological thought (non-classical, interpretive, postmodern, etc.) and, subsequently, the necessity to revise the paradigms that have been existed in sociology so far. Since the above-mentioned approaches are often used to address value-related issues, building a solid theoretical framework for these studies takes on considerable significance. Furthermore, the paradigm revision has been prompted by technological advances changing all areas of people’s lives, especially social interactions. The global human community, integral in nature, is being formed, and production of human values now matters more than production of things; hence the “expansion” of value-focused perspectives in contemporary sociology. The authors give special attention to collectivities which are higher-order units of the social system. These units are described as well-organised action systems where each individual performs his/her specific role. Just as the role of an individual is distinct from that of the collectivity (because the individual and the collectivity are different as units), so too a distinction is drawn between the value and the norm — because they represent different levels of social relationships. Values are the main connecting element between the society’s cultural system and the social sphere while norms, for the most part, belong to the social system. Values serve primarily to maintain the pattern according to which the society is functioning at a given time; norms are essential to social integration. Apart from being the means of regulating social processes and relationships, norms embody the “principles” that can be applied beyond a particular social system. The authors underline that it is important for Ukrainian sociology to keep abreast of the latest developments in the field of axiology and make good use of those ideas because this is a prerequisite for its successful integration into the global sociological community.

Book Review: Toshchenko Zh.T. Trauma Society: Between Evolution and Revolution (The Experience of Theoretical and Empirical Analysis). Moscow: Ves’ Mir, 2020

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 152-159
Author(s):  
Vladimir V. Krivosheev
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Trauma Society ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Research ◽  
Further Development

The review reveals the basic conceptions elaborated by one of the major Russian modern sociologists Zh.T. Toshchenko in his new research. The reviewer argues that the book’s author thoroughly examines the various methodological grounds for identifying the essential characteristics of social dynamics. At the same time, the reviewer focuses on the further development of the theory of modern society, proposed by the book’s author. Thus, Zh.T. Toshchenko, who spent many years researching social deformations, formulates an important concept – the concept of a society of trauma as the third modality of social development along with evolution and revolution. The book offers a fundamentally new view of social life, there is a holistic, systematic approach to all its processes and phenomena. The reviewer concludes that the new book of the social theorist Zh.T. Toshchenko is a significant contribution to sociological theory, since it develops ideas about the state and prospects of Russian society, gives accurate assessments of all social processes.

Dissemination and Implementation in Social Service Settings

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Curtis McMillen ◽  
Danielle R. Adams
Keyword(s):  
Health Disparities ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Social Service ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Dissemination And Implementation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Implementation Models ◽  
Complex Settings

Social service settings offer numerous complexities in their staffing, consumers, and payer mix that require careful consideration in designing dissemination and implementation efforts. However, social services’ unique access to vulnerable populations with health problems may prove vital in efforts to improve the health status of many of our citizens and reduce health disparities. While a number of well-developed, blended dissemination and implementation models are being used in social service settings, they all require additional documentation, research, and field experience. Nonetheless, the lessons learned in the social services may help organizations in other sectors better implement health interventions with complex consumers in complex settings.

Health Disparities and the Social Determinants of Health: Ethical and Social Justice Issues

2019 ◽  
pp. 265-276
Author(s):  
Sridhar Venkatapuram
Keyword(s):  
Health Disparities ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Social Epidemiology ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Housing Conditions ◽  
Early Infant ◽  
The Social

The term health disparities (also called health inequalities) refers to the differences in health outcomes and related events across individuals and social groups. Social determinants of health, meanwhile, refers to certain types of causes of ill health in individuals, including lack of early infant care and stimulation, lack of safe and secure employment, poor housing conditions, discrimination, lack of self-respect, poor personal relationships, low community cohesion, and income inequality. These social determinants stand in contrast to others, such as individual biology, behaviors, and proximate exposures to harmful agents. This chapter presents some of the revolutionary findings of social epidemiology and the science of social determinants of health, and shows how health disparities and social determinants raise profound questions in public health ethics and social/global justice philosophy.

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