From: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC) [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Ethnic inequalities in health: social class, racism and
identity
James Y. Nazroo and Saffron Karlsen
Health Variations , September 2001
The Official Newsletter of the ESRC Health Variations
Programme
Research Finding:
<http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/apsocsci/hvp/newsletters/10findings.htm>
".... ethnic identity is formed in relation to a number of
dimensions: self-description, being traditional, participation in the ethnic
community, and racialisation. So, rather than being something based solely
on country of origin, as would be suggested by definitions of ethnicity used
in earlier studies, ethnic identity can be seen to be influenced by the
wider social structure. Any measure of ethnicity needs to allow for this.
These analyses suggest that the relationship between ethnicity and health is
also mediated by structural factors, explored here in terms of
socio-economic position, and racial harassment and discrimination.
This would suggest that while traditional measures of ethnic
group can allow us to recognise the existence of ethnic inequalities in
health, in order to fully investigate the relationship between ethnicity and
health, it is required a more sophisticated assessment of ethnicity, which
can both adequately account for the different forms of social disadvantage
experienced by ethnic minority groups and the various ways in which racism
itself can impact on physical and mental health. Racism and its accompanying
social disadvantage are important aspects of the lives of people from ethnic
minority groups, and this must be incorporated into strategies to address
ethnic inequalities in health........."
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