One potential underlying explanation for socioeconomic status (SES) gradients in health is exposure to multiple risk factors. Income and class tend to sort
individuals into different settings that are often accompanied by systematic differences in environmental quality. Housing and neighborhood quality, pollutants and toxins, crowding and congestion, and noise exposure all vary with SES. Persons lower in SES also experience more adverse interpersonal relationships with family members, friends, supervisors, and communitymembers. Furthermore, exposure to thesemultiple risk factors is associated with worse health outcomes. Thus, the convergence of exposure tomultiple physical and psychosocial risk factors accompanying disadvantage may account for a portion of SES gradients in health in both childhood and adulthood.

In this audio podcast, excerpted from an interview conducted for UNNATURAL CAUSES, Nancy Krieger of the Harvard School of Public Health talks about the political economy of health, how racial and place-based inequities impact health, and how public health and social justice are inextricably intertwined. ENHANCED PODCAST (m4a)

In this original interview conducted for UNNATURAL CAUSES, Professor Nancy Krieger of the Harvard School of Public Health discusses the social gradient, the political economy of health, and the role of public health in struggles for social justice.

An action, advocacy, and research forum for Hispanic health and well being, NAHH informs and mobilizes consumers, supports health and human service providers in the delivery of quality care, improves the scientific basis for accurate decision-making by promoting better and more inclusive research, promotes appropriate use of technology, insures accountability and advocates on behalf of Hispanics, and promotes philanthropy. Their website contains a resource section with reports, fact sheets, news and helplines related to Latino/ Hispanic health issues.

This publication from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America lists 691 medicines in development specifically for the African American population

This study examines the distribution of food stores and food service places by neighborhood wealth and racial segregation. It finds that, compared to the poorest neighborhoods, large numbers of supermarkets and gas stations with convenience stores are located in wealthier neighborhoods. There are three times fewer places to consume alcoholic beverages in the wealthiest compared to the poorest neighborhoods. Regarding neighborhood segregation, there are 4 times more supermarkets located in white neighborhoods compared to black neighborhoods.

This report describes and evaluates the ambitious voucher program that has enabled 1500 families living in highly segregated and disadvantaged Baltimore inner city neighborhoods to move to integrated, suburban "opportunity" neighborhoods.  The initiative originated as a partial settlement of the public housing desegregation case, Thompson v. HUD and was launched in 2003.

The Opportunity Agenda works across social justice issues to build public support for greater opportunity in America. With a growing community of partners that spans diverse issues and constituencies—human rights, racial equality, immigration, health care, labor rights, education, criminal justice, and others—they work to move hearts and minds as well as public policy and political discourse. Over time, their activities hope to achieve: (1) measurably better media coverage that shifts the public debate; (2) visibly improved public support for social justice values and policies; and (3) greater capacity within social justice organizations and movements to communicate our shared values and vision for America.

Like a game of whack-a-mole, the "slavery hypothesis" of hypertension keeps popping up in the media, popular culture and even medical texts no matter how many times it is slammed down. It has come to symbolize the incessant way in which unfounded biological theories of racial difference continue to thrive despite significant evidence to the contrary.

This report by Paula Braveman and Susan Egerter for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission for a Healthier America, summarizes in clear language the current research on why Americans have worse health and shorter lives than people of other rich nations.  The report analyzes the latest data and contains many useful charts.

A transcript of Williams's lecture at "Racial/Ethnic & Socioeconomic Disparities in Health: Implications for Action." He presents a clear overview of the association between race and ethnic status and how it combines with socioeconomic status to affect health.

This chapter provides an overview of social disparities in health in the United States. It begins by outlining the complex social forces that combine to produce variations in health. It then considers the patterns of racial/ethnic differences in health and shows how these must be understood in the context of the heterogeneity of those groups, and the even larger disparities by socioeconomic status (SES) and gender. The chapter concludes by focusing on the opportunities and challenges for reducing social disparities in health in the United States.

Tiny particles of air pollution contain more hazardous ingredients in non-white and low-income communities than in affluent white ones, a new study shows.

This study examines the relationships between place, race and ethnicity, and health in the San Joaquin Valley of California and attempts to address two specific questions raised by the San Joaquin Valley Place Matters Team: What is the relationship between social factors and premature mortality? What is the relationship between social factors and exposure to environmental hazards?

Students investigate their own neighborhoods and gain practice in research and analysis while drawing connections between health and a neighborhood's physical, social, service, and economic environments.

PolicyLink is a national research and action institute advancing economic and social equity by "Lifting Up What Works." By developing and implementing multifaceted strategies, PolicyLink seeks to ensure that everyone—including low-income communities of color—can contribute to and benefit from local and regional growth and development. 

PRRAC is a civil rights policy organization convened by major civil rights and anti-poverty groups in 1989. PRRAC's primary mission is to help connect social scientists with advocates working on race and poverty issues, and to promote a research-based advocacy strategy on issues of structural racial inequality.

"Think for a moment of poverty as a disease, thwarting growth and development, robbing children of the healthy, happy futures they might otherwise expect. In the exam room, we try to mitigate the pain and suffering that are its pernicious symptoms. But our patients’ well-being depends on more, on public health measures and prevention that lift the darkness so all children can grow toward the light."

Dr. Braveman made this presentation, fully titled "The Unsolved Mystery of Racial Disparities in Birth Outcomes: Is Racism-Related Stress a Missing Part of the Puzzle?" at the NIH Summit on Health Disparities in December 2008. It provides an excellent summary of the logic and evidence that points to structural racism as a key factor in explaining the Black / white gap in infant mortality and low birth weight. Includes considerations of neighborhood, employment, social factors, the life-course model, and the "immigrant paradox."

This workbook is for community-based organizations seeking to affect the social determinants of health through community-based participatory approaches and nontraditional partnerships. Along with an introduction to the concepts of health equity, the workbook presents case studies of communities working at both small and large scales. The authors then provide guidelines for developing your own initiative, from creating partnerships to identifying your approach to assessing and maintaining your progress.

This issue of cdnr is the first part of a 2-part series on eliminating health disparities. It includes articles on disparities in maternal and child health, eliminating disparities in oral health, and health disparities among Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.

The PBS companion website for a three-part series about race in society, science, and history, from the same producers as UNNATURAL CAUSES. Includes interactivites, an "Ask the Experts" feature, background readings, and additional resources.

To buy the film, visit the California Newsreel site.

What is this thing we call 'race'? Where did the idea come from? What are the patterns of human variation? And if race isn't biological, what is it? How do our social institutions 'make' race? Used widely in classrooms and community spaces, This acclaimed three-part series compels viewers to scrutinize some of their most fundamental beliefs.

Also see the extensive companion Web site, with games, interactivities, and additional information.

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

This issue brief provides evidence and explanations for striking differences health status by both race and socioeconomic status.

This study examines the past and current uses of "race" in US epidemiologic research. It finds that the proportion of U.S. original research papers containing a reference to "race" rose steadily from 1975. However, rather than increasing inclusion of "nonwhite" groups in studies, consideration of "race" seems to have simply increased explicit exclusion of "nonwhites."  Abstract only.