Intermediary Determinants Of Social Inequalities

Social Stratification

Discuss about the Intermediary Determinants of Social Inequalities.

The social inequality occurs within the society due to unequal distribution of opportunity within the people. There is also unequal distribution of resources among the people of the society. In this report, a textbook of related to the study of sociology is chosen and analyzed along with two peers-reviewed articles, related to the study of social inequality provided in the report. The content of the article is compared to other peer reviewed article of a related topic.

The first article for this report mainly focuses on the social structure in the European society, which leads to the inequality among the people of the working class. This social inequality is responsible for the mental stress among the working class people within the working class of the European community. The second article discusses the planning steps that are needed to be adopted in order to reduce social inequality among the children of the European Society, which is necessary improve the health condition of the children.

Social Stratification

• In this book, John J. Macionis and Linda M. Gerber have discussed the social inequality and stratification that exists within the society.
• The social stratification is one of the major characteristics of the society, which exists due to the unequal distribution of power within the society.

• The authors began the chapter by mentioning the example of the accident, which took place in the Titanic ship in the year of 1912.
• More than 1600 people died in the tragic accident. However, on the ship, the first class passengers got better chance of survival compared to the passenger with second class tickets. More than 60% of the first class passengers survived compared to just 36% of the second class passengers.

Caste System

• The authors have mentioned about the caste system in the society in India, which is one of the major examples of social stratification.
• The caste system also played a major part in the social class of middle age of England, where the people belonging to the aristocrat class have the authority to become the members of the church.

Mental Health of Workers

• In this article, the aim of the research is to investigate the inequality that exists in the society of the employees and the mental well-being of individual depending upon the social class of each.
• On the other hand, the social class of the individual is judged based on the class scheme provided by the E.O Wright. The mental illness among the patients is created due to the stress that is created among the workers due to the adverse effects of social inequality.

Collection of data

• The researchers have used exclusive form of the secondary data and hence did not require ethical approval.
• The data of the person whose age is over 15 years are collected and also about the individual wage, which is being collected.
• The data were collected from 19 different countries of Europe.

Mental health and Social inequality

• The result of the research suggests that the social inequality in the European working class population is responsible for the mental stress among the people.
• The people working in the higher position like the mangers have better mental health condition of the compared to the unskilled workers. Hence, it is crucial to improving the relation between the individual of a different class of the society.

Mental development of young Children

• The researchers have done a systemic review on the intervention adopted by parents of the European countries in order to improve the health condition of the children by reducing the social inequality.
• The children belonging from the backwards section of the society is likely to have poor developmental records.

PRISMA technique

• The guidelines for the PRISMA techniques are used in the systemic review. The researchers have used the techniques related to universalism intervention and proportionate study using the electronic search strategy described.
• The online database source Pub Med is used for this purpose along with the International Bibliography of Social Science. Intervention techniques are applied in the case of using techniques with that of the children.

Effective Intervention technique  

• The investigators had identified 23 intervention techniques, from all the articles they have selected.
• Only one of the intervention techniques is being applied in the society of UK and Ireland.
• The intervention techniques along with the education of the evidence-practice can help to improve upon the discrimination caused due to the inequality among the parenting care.

The research work has measured the level of unemployment due to inequality in the society of Spain during the time of economic crisis. The main focus of this research is based on the educational inequality, which affects the mental health condition of the workers. Unlike the investigation in Journal A, where the researchers have focused in on the general aspects of the inequality that exits in the society of the Europe, whereas in the later case the investigators have focused on the effects of the inequality caused by the economic crisis. There are several cases of unemployment caused due to the effects of economic crisis in Spain (Córdoba-Doña et al., 2016). This study also focuses on the effects of social inequality in the Spain, which is unlike the case of the Journal A, where the focus was on 19 different nations of Europe. However, like the other journal, this study also focuses on the mental health condition of the working class people due to the effects of unemployment (Macionis & Gerber, 2008).

For this study, the cross-sectional method of study was used. The age of the target group for data collection was 19 to 64 years. The Poisson regression methods are also used in this case. The study also concluded that the economic recession was responsible for poor mental health condition among the people. The secondary data has also been in this case, which helped the researcher to compare and analyze the data of that of the previously done research. The conclusion of the research work unlike that of journal A has been able to identify the financial reasons for the poor mental health condition.

Collection of Data

The research work in the above mentioned article focuses on the importance of social capital aid, which is needed to remove the social inequality among the children and also among well-being of the children and adolescents. Like the area of focus in that of journal B, this article also focuses on the intervention methods needed to improve the mental well-being of children and adolescents caused due to the adverse effects of social inequality. The health inequality is one of the major issues among the children of Europe. There have been several cases of pre-mature death among the children in all over Europe due to poor mental health condition, which leads to poor physical condition. The study has focused on the role of social capital, which gives rise to the social inequality among the children (Veerle et al., 2013).

This study is based on the literature review, which is similar to that of the case of journal B. In both the cases, the researchers have reviewed the pervious articles of the relevant topic, which is available in the online databases. The systemic review, in this case, is aimed to focus on the socio-economic status of the individual. The articles published from the USA, Australia was also used along with the journals of Europe. This is unlike the case of journal B, where the researchers have only used the articles published from the European countries.

The conclusion of this study suggests that the flow of social capital is mainly responsible for the unequal health status among the individuals. This study has focused on the minority groups of the European community. It is also essential to formulate the European policies, which will help to focus on the relevant issues. Both the studies focus on the importance of social and economic policies, which could help to resolve the problem of social inequality that exists within the various communities.

The chosen text provides an unparalleled discussion about the elements, which leads to inequality within the society. The authors have used various examples from the past in order explain the effects of social inequality. The result of the survey, which is mentioned, helps the reader to evaluate the effects of stratification that exists in the society of Canada. The revolution, which took place in the past, which aimed to remove the system of social stratification, has also been mentioned in details in the given text. The authors have used the examples of Russian revolution to explain the importance of social reforms. The text also mentions the various importance theories related to the principle of sociology. However, there is no major link with the theory to that of the social inequality that exists in the community. Nevertheless, the text has helped to generate envision, which helped remove the social inequality. One of the main reasons, for the social inequality that exists in the society, is due to the financial difference of the people.  

Comparison of Articles

One of the major positive sides of this article is that it has able to mention the link between the mental health conditions of the people with that of the social class of the people. Thus, the authors have been able to raise one of the essential consequences of the social inequality that exists in the society of Europe. The researchers, however, have used the Wright’s relational social class to map the social structure, which is a not very reliable technique.

However, the research has been able to highlight the importance of skill within the working class of the society, which is considered to be one of the major causes of social inequality. Hence, with the help of the result of the research work, it is possible to raise the awareness among the people about the importance of improving the skill and thereby help in removing the effects of social inequality (De Moortel et al.,2014).

The main positive sides of the above mentioned journal are that it has able to raise awareness about the importance of children health, which gets affected due to the adverse effects of social inequality. The researchers also have been able to suggest intervention measures prevent the effects of health inequality that exists within the society.

The importance of educational programs in order to improve the health of the status of the children is also mentioned in the article. The search strategy was one of the effective ways, which helps to include all the major relevant articles related to the research topic. However, one of the major limitations of this research work is that the intervention techniques, which have been suggested, can only be applied to the children in the European society (Morrison et al., 2014).

The vital aspects related to social inequality along with its causes and outcomes have been discussed in the given articles thereby providing in-depth analysis and insight into certain pertinent matters. The issues related to social inequality is still now prevalent thwarting the lives of many either directly or in an indirect manner. Therefore knowledge and information relevant to such topic will enhance our understanding so that the issues about social inequality, exclusion and discriminating attitude may be effectively addressed. Acquisition of knowledge and proper application of the principles, ideas relevant to separate professional competencies on matter related to social inequality will aid in avoiding repetitions of the similar mistakes thereby offering promises for actual practice. In this regard, I firmly believe that the principles of social justice need to be stringently followed and utilized in the professional practice to account for healthier and more potent holistic outcomes allaying the possibility of differential treatments based on social stratification. The socio-economic disparities in health are the resultant effects of this brimming issue of social inequality. I feel enriched on procuring the relevant knowledge through analysis carried out with the help of social analysis tools. The notion of social segregation depending upon one’s earnings and flow of money through valid source of income is the major obstacle on the path of ensuring equitable health and other service accessibility and provision. On knowing from the article content, I feel that any deviation from the desirable egalitarian social structure may culminate in dissents and violent mass uprisings as occurred in several countries prominent through empirical historical evidence. Further, the adverse impacts of the social inequality in conjunction with detrimental health outcomes are intimately related. Hence, I think that promotion of suitable interventional strategies and awareness campaigns through education is essential to bring out the optimal results. Healthcare and social justice go hand in hand to cater to the needs of the individuals irrespective of their backgrounds. Social cohesion normally accounts for improved health as well as higher income equality.

Critical Thinking of the Sociology Text

Social factors encompass the major determinants of health and form the essence of the health inequality paradigm. Hence, in my opinion, the nursing professionals must endeavor to improvise healthy public policy through advocacy of political actions and strategies. Linking from the matter as discussed in the articles, I also came to know that social inequality is a crucial reason for the generation of stress in people whose income is less compared to their wealthy counterparts. Therefore healthcare facility should take urgent note of this detrimental effect and the health infrastructure; services must be revamped accordingly. Material and lifestyle factors also influence the socio-economic outcomes in the relevant individuals and hence attention is to be paid on the vita contexts of social capital, social support and social exclusion. However all the desirable changes or ideal outcomes cannot be achieved on a singular effort basis, rather a collective initiative from the persons in authority is indispensable to harbor positive, long-term and holistic outcomes. I feel the nurses may apply the knowledge acquired from these journal articles into their professional practice to obtain better and more holistic results.

Conclusion

All the above mentioned articles and text have been able to highlight the theories and the effects of the social inequality among the weaker section of the society. The weaker section of the people of the society had to suffer from poor mental health condition due to the effects of social inequality. The unfavorable working condition within the social class causes poor performance of the employees. Both men and women are affected due to the poor working environment in the workplace. The social stratification has been one of the major issues of the human society for several thousands of years.

All the above mentioned text and articles have been able to highlight the importance of the theories related to the sociology, which helps to identify the reasons and the effects of social inequality. It also raises the level of awareness among the people about the ways to prevent social inequality that exists in the community of Europe.

Reference

Córdoba-Doña, J. A., Escolar-Pujolar, A., San Sebastián, M., & Gustafsson, P. E. (2016). How are the employed and unemployed affected by the economic crisis in Spain? Educational inequalities, life conditions and mental health in a context of high unemployment. BMC public health, 16(1), 267.

De Moortel, D., Vandenheede, H., Muntaner, C., & Vanroelen, C. (2014). Structural and intermediary determinants of social inequalities in the mental well-being of European workers: a relational approach. BMC Public Health, 14(1), 938.

Macionis, J. & Gerber, L. (2008). Sociology (8th ed.). Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall

Morrison, J., Pikhart, H., Ruiz, M., & Goldblatt, P. (2014). Systematic review of parenting interventions in European countries aiming to reduce social inequalities in children’s health and development. BMC Public Health, 14(1), 1040.

Veerle, V., Bart De C, V. S., Costongs, C., Barbareschi, G., & Jónsson, S. H. (2013). Does neighbourhood social capital aid in leveling the social gradient in the health and well-being of children and adolescents? A literature review. BMC Public Health, 4-18.