How does socioeconomic status get under the skin? This book summarizes the decade of research by the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health “exploring the pathways and mechanisms that contribute to the gradient relationship between socioeconomic status and health.”

PDFs of each article are available online.  You may also purchase a complete copy of the journal.

This study, commissioned by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and carried out by leading researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, provides important insight into how much of a financial burden racial disparities are putting on our health care system and society at large. The researchers examined the direct costs associated with the provision of care to a sicker and more disadvantaged population, as well as the indirect costs of health inequities such as lost productivity, lost wages, absenteeism, family leave, and premature death.

Between 1966 and 1980, socioeconomic inequities in premature mortality and infant death shrank, absolutely and relatively, especially for US populations of color. However, starting in 1980, the relative gaps widened and the absolute gaps remained unchanged.

What are the consequences of making racial assumptions in the doctor's office?

The Praxis Project is a national, nonprofit organization that builds partnerships with local groups to influence policymaking to address the underlying, systemic causes of community problems. Committed to closing the health gap facing communities of color, they forge alliances for building healthy communities. Praxis trains its partner organizations and provides research, technical assistance and financial support to tackle issues impacting the well being of communities. Their site contains an information resource center with additional resources and reports on equity and social justice.

 Assessing the wealth holdings of the same families for 23 years (1984-2007) shows that the wealth gap between whites and African Americans increased more than 4 times, from $20,000 in 1984 to $95,000 in 2003. This gap persisted for African Americans and white families in the same income range. For example, middle-income white households had greater gains in financial assets than high-income African Americans; by 2007, they had accumulated $74,000, whereas the average high-income African American family owned only $18,000. At least 25% of all African American families had no assets to turn to in times of economic hardship.

The first comprehensive look at race relations in America between the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement, this definitive four-part series documents a brutal and oppressive era rooted in the growing refusal of many Southern states to grant slaves freed in the Civil War equal rights with whites. A life of crushing limitation for Southern Blacks, defined by legal segregation known as "Jim Crow" - after a minstrel routine in which whites painted their faces black - shaped the social, political and legal history of the period. In 1954, with the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education, the Jim Crow laws and way of life began to fall.

This film is part of the Structural Racism sub-category of California Newsreel's African American Perspectives Collection.

The Road to Brown tells the story of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling as the culmination of a brilliant legal assault on segregation that launched the Civil Rights movement. It is also a moving and long overdue tribute to a visionary but little known black lawyer, Charles Hamilton Houston, "the man who killed Jim Crow."

This film is part of the Structural Racism sub-category of California Newsreel's African American Perspectives Collection.

In her keynote lecture to the 29th Annual Minority Health Conference, Dr. Krieger explores how racism harms health and creates the very categories of "race." The idea that racial/ethnic health inequities are a biological expression of racism, that their origins lie in injustice, not biology, is not an ideological argument but a scientific statement that rests on rigorous scientific testing. Using ecosocial theory, Krieger explains the myriad ways racial inequality becomes biologically embodied over the lifecourse and across generations, through pathways including adverse exposure to: economic and social deprivation; toxic substances, pathogens, and hazardous conditions; social trauma; targeted marketing of harmful commodities; and inadequate and degrading medical care. In this presentation, Krieger discusses conceptual and methodological aspects of analyzing how racial and economic injustice produce health inequities, coupled with empirical examples drawn from her own research as a social epidemiologist.

What difference does wealth make in terms of your life opportunities? Over recent years, magazines and newspapers have run a variety of articles that explore why middle-class Black children don't do as well in school as white children from families with similar socio-economic backgrounds. These "achievement gap" articles are based on studies that relate achievement to family incomes. But the findings from these studies, argues one researcher, are highly misleading--because they simply fail to factor in what may be the key determinant to socio-economic status: family wealth.

In Bayview-Hunters Point, the stress created by environmental problems, racism, poverty and crime may explain why so many babies die young. Infant mortality is twice as high here as in the rest of San Francisco.

An update on the 1987 report on the racial  and socioeconomic characteristics of communities with hazardous waste sites. Co-sponsored by Center for Policy Alternatives, NAACP, and United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice 

In this award-winning documentary, one family's painful but persistent confrontation with the continuing legacy of the slave trade becomes America's. Katrina Browne uncovers her New England family's deep involvement in the Triangle Trade and, in so doing, reveals the pivotal role slavery played in the growth of the whole American economy. In this bicentennial year of the federal abolition of the slave trade, this courageous documentary asks every American what we can and should do to repair the unacknowledged damage of our troubled past.

This film is part of the Structural Racism sub-category of California Newsreel's African American Perspectives Collection.

Through its scrupulous investigation of a landmark case, this documentary uncovers the deep-rooted assumptions about race and crime that still permeate our society and undermine our justice system. The film convincingly shows how the 'war on drugs' has become a war on due process, waged against African Americans. Today America has the largest prison population in the world; in some states as much as 15 percent of the black male population is incarcerated. Tulia, Texas shows one reason why.

This film is part of the Structural Racism sub-category of California Newsreel's African American Perspectives Collection.

Argues that "weathering" framework best describes complexities of inequality. Explains how this model suggests that African-American women experience early health deterioration  as a consequence of the cumulative impact of repeater experience with social, economic, or political exclusion. This includes the physical cost of engaging actively to address structural barriers to achievement and well-being.

An accessible and engaging exploration of why the opportunity to live a long and healthy life remains profoundly unequal. Hilary Graham and her contributors outline the enduring link between people's socioeconomic circumstances and their health and tackle questions at the forefront of research and policy on health inequalities.

The CityMatCH Undoing Racism Action Group strives to:
(1) Guide the organization through learning experiences to better understand institutional racism and how it manifests in the world around us;
(2) Identify barriers within and beyond the CityMatCH organization and create a safe environment to discuss the issue of racism openly and honestly; and
(3) Identify undoing racism strategy and training opportunities to benefit CityMatCH membership.

Eliminating racial and ethnic disparities is a sustained, strategic priority in CityMatCH's work with nearly 150 member local health departments whose jurisdictions include the largest 200 cities and major metropolitan areas in the nation. This report aims to examine the scientific basis for racism as a determinant of health status and health disparities, and institutional racism manifests in health care and health departments; provide an overview of existing directions, options and resources for "Undoing Racism;" and outline a series of activities for a local public health-based Undoing Racism initiative, ranging from awareness to action.

This report to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination makes clear that racial discrimination in health care access and treatment is a human rights violation that deserves serious attention from both the CERD Committee and policymakers in the United States. This report was written by a coalition of experts in the fields of health policy and environmental justice, including academics and members of civil society organizations working to advance the right to health and the right to a healthy environment in the United States

Researchers at University College London analyzed responses from a few thousand senior civil servants working for the British government in London, gathered over 11 years. The findings indicate that a nagging sense of being unfairly treated at work or at home can raise a person's risk of heart attack. The study was published in the British Medical Journal.

Neonatologists James Collins and Richard David specialize in the care of infants born too soon or too small. Their research on differences in birth outcomes between African American and white American women points to a provocative idea: the cumulative stress of racism is taking a toll on African American families even before they are born.

Investigates the impacts of racism on health as documented by the health advantages of being perceived by others as "White," even if you self-identify with a non-White group.

The Tohono O'odham and Pima Indians of southern Arizona have perhaps the highest rate of diabetes in the world. Yet the disease was virtually unknown here 100 years ago. Over the last century, the diversion of river water to upstream white settlements cost the O'odham their crops,  livelihood, traditional diet, culture and health. Today, community advocates hope that restoring water and renewing culture can help improve health.

The United States has made progress in decreasing the black-white gap in civil rights, housing, education, and income since 1960, but health inequalities persist. We examined trends in black-white standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for each age-sex group from 1960 to 2000. The black-white gap measured by SMR changed very little between 1960 and 2000 and actually worsened for infants and for African American men age thirty-five and older. In contrast, SMR improved in African American women. Using 2002 data, an estimated 83,570 excess deaths each year could be prevented in the United States if this black-white mortality gap could be eliminated.