Towards a politics of health (original) (raw)

Yet inequalities in health continue, within countries (on the basis of socioeconomic class, gender or ethnicity) and between them (in terms of wealth and resources) (Davey Smith et al., 2002; Donkn et al., 2002). How these inequalities in health are approached by society is highly political: are health inequalities to be accepted as 'natural' and inevitable results of individual differences both in respect of genetics and the silent hand of the economic market, or are they social and economic abhorrences that need to be tackled by a modern state and a humane society (Adams et al., 2002)? Underpinning these different approaches to health inequalities are not only divergent views of what is scientifically or economically possible, but also differing political and ideological opinions about what is desirable.