Socio-economic Health Differentials: From Structure to Experience

A large and expanding literature demonstrates the existence and persistence of socio-economic differences in health. This literature is extensive, but very little of it examines the individual's experience of health. This article argues the need for research into socio-economic differentials in health from a qualitative perspective, and draws on research from this perspective to present and discuss several issues of relevance to health differentials. These include talking about health, contact with health professionals, views on modem medicine, the meaning of health, control and fatalism, smoking and health, diet and food, exercise and fitness and the healthy body. Findings illustrate considerable differences in the ways people from upper and lower socio-economic positions understand and experience health and illness, and also demonstrate how their health-related concerns are embedded in the fabric of everyday lives. Further research from this perspective has potential for improving our understanding of socio-economic differentials in health. In closing, the article offers some directions for future research, and identifies three issues: the type of qualitative approach adopted; the nature of linguistic accounts; and the need for a theoretical framework, to which future research should attend.