Regimes of inequality: the political economy of health and wealth

"A spectacular thirty-meter high viaduct spans the Ouseburn river as it makes its way through Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the northeast corner of England. Modern, bright-yellow and black tram cars ply the viaduct, bringing passengers from working-class Byker to more affluent South Gosforth station in a journey that takes roughly ten minutes. But while the Byker viaduct allows riders to traverse the physical chasm carved out by the Ouseburn with ease, the social differences that separate residents of Byker from their better-off neighbors are much harder to bridge. Twice as many children in Byker (two in five) live in poverty as in Gosforth. And while a fifty-five-year-old man from Gosforth can expect to live another seventeen years in good health, the average fifty-five-year-old in Byker has only another nine years of healthy life expectancy ahead of him (Bambra 2016, 92)"--

Since the 1990s, mainstream political parties have failed to address the problem of growing inequality, resulting in political backlash and the transformation of European party systems. Most attempts to explain the rise of inequality in political science take a far too narrow approach, considering only economic inequality and failing to recognize how multiple manifestations of inequality combine to reinforce each other and the underlying political features of advanced welfare states. Combining training in public health with a background in political science, Julia Lynch brings a unique perspective to debates about inequality in political science and to public health thinking about the causes of and remedies for health inequalities. Based on case studies of efforts to reduce health inequalities in England, France and Finland, Lynch argues that inequality persists because political leaders chose to frame the issue of inequality in ways that made it harder to solve.

"A spectacular thirty-meter high viaduct spans the Ouseburn river as it makes its way through Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the northeast corner of England. Modern, bright-yellow and black tram cars ply the viaduct, bringing passengers from working-class Byker to more affluent South Gosforth station in a journey that takes roughly ten minutes. But while the Byker viaduct allows riders to traverse the physical chasm carved out by the Ouseburn with ease, the social differences that separate residents of Byker from their better-off neighbors are much harder to bridge. Twice as many children in Byker (two in five) live in poverty as in Gosforth. And while a fifty-five-year-old man from Gosforth can expect to live another seventeen years in good health, the average fifty-five-year-old in Byker has only another nine years of healthy life expectancy ahead of him (Bambra 2016, 92)"--