Social Epidemiology and Class: A Critique of Richard Wilkinson's Income Inequality and Social Capital Hypothesis
In: Rethinking marxism: RM ; a journal of economics, culture, and society ; official journal of the Association for Economic and Social Analysis, Band 15, Heft 4, S. 551-554
ISSN: 1475-8059
A 'Remarx' essay claims that, although Richard Wilkinson's (1996, 2001) income inequality & social cohesion model has much to offer mainstream public health, its value for social epidemiology is significantly reduced by Wilkinson's failure to consider either its implications for public policy or class dimensions of the causes of health problems. The exclusion of class variables is apt to bias Wilkinson's empirical estimation of the relationship between income equality & health. Economic, political, cultural, & natural processes that have been suggested as possible explanations for recent increases in income inequality are examined, along with the potential impact of various political processes on income inequality; problems related to Wilkinson's assumption that social cohesion is the major determinant of health in social formations & the vulnerability to empirical refutation of "simple income inequality and health" models. It is argued that Wilkinson's avoidance of the class issue & the emerging income inequality/social capital hypothesis has the potential to destroy the possibility of an integrated race, gender, & class research program in social epidemiology. 19 References. J. Lindroth