Health in This

The newspapers this morning (Thursday 7th May) are full of excitement that some restrictions within the lock down are to be lifted. Underneath the bold headlines there are little facts other than snippets and hints. One constant is that exercise may be extended beyond the half hour allowance. We may be allowed to ramble and sunbathe in a public park. This might be news to some people as they have been doing this anyway. Some people I have talked to have been going on hikes that take them miles away from their homes, social media has many posts of people proclaiming their joy of the delights of nature, selfies taken by moors, reservoirs, aerial shots of towns and cities. these people are the victim of the vagueness of the government messages, the leaflet we all received. One friend told me he had walked miles and saw no one. He felt guilty but claimed he didn't know what the restrictions were, his walk was directly from his house and back to it.  A microbiologist in the Guardian newspaper complained that people who lived in rural areas were abusing the restrictions as they weren't living in cramped over populated urban areas where a walk or cycle can bring you into contact with numerous people. We could argue the rural vs urban implications but sociologists would look deeper. It's social class.

An old headteacher of mine in a school I worked in once asked why A Level sociology still used Marxism as a theory - "It's irrelevant now," he said, "class is no longer an issue." This was in 2006, two years later the recession started and four years later the Coalition government introduced austerity measures, fourteen years later the Guardian newspaper published this:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/01/covid-19-deaths-twice-as-high-in-poorest-areas-in-england-and-wales

Sociologists observe that as far as health is concerned the main model is the biomedical model - this means that the body is seen as a machine that must be kept working. Functionalist sociologists see this as a leveler. Regardless of who you are your body is the same and will be treated the same by professional organisations - the NHS in our case. This has led to medicalisation - our doctors and nurses become experts in how we should eat and live. We are advised on diet, alcohol intake and exercise.  Parsons saw this as part of his functional prerequisites - adaptation: providing an adequate standard of living for its members.  Parsons also saw being sick as performing a social role - people would act in a particular way when sick - in accordance to the norms of the society that they live in. The NHS performs this role well - advising rest, giving prescriptions, health has become a way of our life. When I have a cold (as a teacher this lasts from September til May - when the virus broke out I was coughing a lot but was it the common cold or This?) I buy Lemsip and vapour. I buy tissues - this is my social role - abate my illness and try to contain it. If it gets bad we are encouraged not to work in case of infection.

In March before lock down this social role was encouraged, if you had the symptoms isolate yourself for two weeks. People obeyed this as they were willing to perform their social role. Unveiling the Covid 19 App the Health secretary said it was our duty to download it. Our social role. The media backed the government's advice. I watched a BBC Breakfast report on how to isolate where a doctor showed his home. It was like a grim Through the Keyhole - spacious hall - downstairs den and small toilet, upstairs kitchen, livingroom, bedroom, upstairs a large bathroom, another two bedrooms - one with ensuite loo and shower, attic bedroom. Count how many 'upstairs'. This was in London. The advice was to cut yourself off, use a separate toilet, have a separate bin. When I watched this the death rate was non existent, schools and shops were open.

The Marxist approach to health is different, they do not see it as a leveler. As the statistics in the Guardian link show - disease is linked to social class. The poorer you are the more likely you are to be ill. However this is not just restricted to the ideology of Marxism. Cultural deprivation theorists and many middle of the road sociologists say the same. In fact as far back as 1980 The Black Report showed that the poorer you are the shorter your lifespan - this report looked at social selection and cultural differences - the working classes were less healthy due to their lifestyle and economic differences lead to increased or decreased life expectancy.

The working classes in 1980 were more likely to be in work, if not they were on benefits. There was no minimum wage so they would have worked long hours in manual jobs. Little has changed. It could be argued that there is more choice now, supermarkets of all types have a wide and varied selection of food.  But wages are still low, the Sure Start centres begun by New Labour and severely reduced in size under austerity reported that people in low income areas didn't know how to cook from scratch or couldn't afford to, or didn't have the time to. families on lower incomes are larger in size, more mouths to feed on less money. Their homes are smaller and the areas have less room for exercise. GP surgeries in poorer areas struggle with appointments. Wealthier areas are easier to get appointments as people are more likely to be healthy. The middle classes have more leisure time and this leisure time can be spent in pursuit of exercise, they can afford the equipment, the travel if needed. But they also have the know how. It's part of their culture. The middle classes are diverse - they can earn from £18,000 to £250,000 according to profession. But one thing they all share is what sociologists call 'deferred gratification' they all recognise the importance of education and the future. They will have risen in the class system or their relatives have and they want to keep rising. Kate Fox talks about this in Watching the English the middle classes are worried that their status may be taken away from them so they aspire to rise higher, high enough to be comfortable. Looking to the future means being healthy. But to be healthy you need the knowledge. In lessons on class I show the BBC's documentary Trouble on the Estate about a housing estate in Blackburn during austerity. One family have two children. The mother had left a low paid job to look after the young children, the dad used to work in a factory but it shut and he then took up two cleaning jobs. The film shows them shopping in Iceland, getting frozen food based on price rather than taste or desire. In short they bought what they could afford rather than what they wanted. The dad explained his expenditure, he got paid on a Friday and after bills and food he had five pounds til the next week. Sociologists call this 'immediate gratification'. This is all processed food. The work patterns mean little time for leisure and what free time there is will be more likely spent socialising.

Statistics for the virus also seem to be hitting ethnic minority people hardest - again from the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/22/racial-inequality-in-britain-found-a-risk-factor-for-covid-19

Now, this has lots of links to the class system as well. We see that ethnic minorities who do less well in education and are unemployed tend to be from the lower social classes. there is a cultural theme too - some Asian families live together, generations under one roof. If someone is infected in these households it will go up and down the generation scale.

Sociologist Parker looked at leisure between the social classes, the middle classes see it as a way of succeeding, it's an extension of their work. Therefore they socialise with work colleagues - witness pubs near courts full of solicitors and barristers drinking together. Or they exercise so that they are fit for work. the working classes or lower paid workers see leisure as a release from work, they want to forget work and enjoy themselves. So exercising is easier for them to adapt to in a lock down.

To go back to the functionalist approach, the numbers may be higher for the lower paid but people from all social classes have lost loved ones. The biomedical approach is the frontline.