Abstract
Public health literature has demonstrated a negative effect of income inequality on a number of health outcomes. Researchers have attempted to explain this phenomenon, drawing on psychosocial and neo-materialist explanations. This paper argues, however, that these approaches fail to recognize the crucial role of culture, focusing specifically on the cultural value of individualism. Through a review of the literature and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice as a theoretical framework, I provide support for the proposition that an ideology based in individualism is the context within which income inequality, social fragmentation, material deprivation, and consequently poor health outcomes are produced. I further offer recommendations for continued research into the role of cultural determinants in the income inequality-health relationship.
Highlights
The association between income inequality and health is a widely cited and studied phenomenon in the field of social epidemiology (De Maio, 2012)
Apart from anthropology, much of the attempt to understand components of culture has taken place in crosscultural psychology, and while it has been recognized that culture is a complex, multidimensional construct, some scholars have purported that the dimension related to the individualism-collectivism spectrum is the most significant distinguishing cultural characteristic of societies globally—with individualism generally understood as the degree of significance placed on the independent individual over other social bonds
A better understanding of the role of culture in income inequality and health could potentially assist in predicting trends in health outcomes over time if one is aware of how and in what direction a given society’s culture may be changing as well
Summary
This journal is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program, and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press
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