Cultural Capital as a fundamental cause of health inequities

We are delighted to welcome Prof. Thomas Abel, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Berne, an internationally renowned expert in the field who will share his in-depth knowledge and insights in health inequalities.

Datum: 6. Dezember 2017
Zeit: 17.00 Uhr bis 18.00 Uhr
Ort: HS 9

Prof. Thomas Abel
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Berne

Cultural Capital as a fundamental cause of health inequities
The literature on individual-level socioeconomic inequalities in health is voluminous but theoretically underdeveloped. This has led to a theoretically unconvincing divide of material and cultural determinants of health and to limited consideration of the social processes that link material and non-material resources to one another in the production of health. To address this issue, we introduce the concept of cultural capital (Bourdieu) for health and its meaning in the structure - agency dynamics which underlay the re-production of health inequality. We then link our findings to Fundamental Cause Theory (Link and Phelan) and discuss how cultural capital functions as one of the major fundamental causes of health.

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