Dolan, Alan. (2007) 'Good luck to them if they can get it': exploring working class men's understandings and experiences of income inequality and material standards. Sociology of Health & Illness, Vol.29 (No.5). pp. 711-729. ISSN 0141-9889

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Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to the recent debate within the field of inequalities in health that has focused on the relationship between income distribution and health. This has contested the extent to which the main effects of income on health are not directly related to material standards but operate through psychosocial mechanisms, linked to how people experience and perceive their relative position. However, whilst this has focused attention on the qualitative dimensions of income inequality as a potential determinant of health inequality, very little empirical work has directly examined lay perspectives. In this study I attempted to address this gap by exploring how two groups of working class men living in contrasting socio-economic areas understood and experienced differences in income and material circumstances and how these were perceived to impact on their health. This study shows that the anger and resentment felt by these men had their roots largely in the perceptions of others and the way others treated them, rather than in income differentials per se. There was little evidence of feelings of shame or inferiority. For men at the bottom of the social ladder, financial hardship was additionally perceived as having the greatest impact on their health and well-being.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine H Social Sciences H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Health and Social Studies
Journal or Publication Title:	Sociology of Health & Illness
Publisher:	Blackwell
ISSN:	0141-9889
Official Date:	July 2007
Volume:	Vol.29
Number:	No.5
Number of Pages:	19
Page Range:	pp. 711-729
Identification Number:	10.1111/j.1467-9566.2007.01012.x
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/31424

Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge

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