Social Inequality In Terms Research Articles

Indice de défavorisation matérielle et sociale : son application au secteur de la santé et du bien-être

The interest in measuring social inequalities in health in Québec is relatively recent and has been hampered by the lack of socioeconomic information in the administrative databases on health. To compensate for this lack of data, a material and social deprivation index has been introduced into a dozen of these databases, making it possible to carry out numerous analyses. The present article describes the design and uses of this index and underlines the importance of social inequalities in terms of population health (healthy life expectancy), certain health and social problems (intentional or unintentional injuries, problems experienced by youth), use of health and social services at the national (hospitalization, day surgery and long-term care facilities) and local (services offered by local community service centres) levels, and allocation of public resources (physician compensation and funding of community organizations). The advantages and limitations of this index are also put into perspective, as are the possibilities it offers for research and decision-making.

Widening social inequalities in mortality: the case of Barcelona, a southern European city.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse trends in mortality inequalities in Barcelona between 1983 and 1994 by comparing rates in those electoral wards with a low socioeconomic level and rates in the remaining...

Social Context and Psychological Testing in South Africa, 1918-1939

In the period between the two world wars the social and human sciences in South Africa became important contributors to the debates about vital social issues, of which `the Native question' was a particularly pressing one. Psychological knowledge, too, was utilized in the legitimation of a social order based on race, since the perception was that psychological testing produced empirical data which supported certain explanations of this order. Two ideological positions developed in the period under review in South Africa: eugenics and Christian-nationalism. The contribution of psychological testing, eugenics and Christian-nationalism to the construction of `race' in the local context forms the focus of this paper. It is argued that eugenics provided arguments for social inequality in terms of biology, while its counterpart, Christian-nationalism, provided similar arguments based on theology. However, Christian-nationalism also enabled Afrikaner politicians and social scientists to mobilize impoverished Afrikaans speakers, and hence it had more of a policy impact than eugenics. Psychological testing became recognized as a source of authority on social controversies, particularly with reference to educational policies, where race played a significant mediating role.