International Centre for Health and Society Seminar
15 May 2002, 5pm
Richard Wilkinson,
Professor of Social Epidemiolgy,University of Nottingham
'Liberty, Fraternity, Equality: the politics of health'.
RSVP attendance by 13/05/02 - The seminar will be held at UCL.
Abstract.
Despite recent criticisms, the weight of the evidence is still that greater
income inequality is detrimental to health. This association is likely to
reflect increased social tensions resulting from a greater emphasis
being placed – in more unequal societies – on defining personal worth
in terms of position in the dominance hierarchy.
Individual psychosocial risk factors show that we are highly sensitive
to particular dimensions of the social environment. Indeed, it is the
nature of personal vulnerability which defines what are the important
dimensions of the social structures within which we live. The evidence
from social epidemiology points increasingly to dimensions which have
long been recognised as crucial to human welfare: namely liberty,
fraternity, equality.
The material to be outlined in this lecture suggests not only a way of
theorising social capital but also an approach to understanding the
power of social class and social comparisons which have their roots in
the dominance hierarchies of our pre-human ancestors.
Patricia Crowley
Centre Administrator
International Centre for Health and Society
Dept of Epidemiology & Public Health, UCL
1 - 19 Torrington Place
London WC1E 6BT
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