Race and Place: Investigating Racial Differences in Spatial Mortality Patterning through Social Capital Theory

• In Event: 378 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session II
  In Refereed Roundtable: Open Refereed Roundtable. B. Table. 01. Race and Place

Abstract

This paper shows that health outcomes, measured by mortality, have distinct spatial patterning. Focusing on the ten leading causes of mortality in the United States, I utilize the lens of social capital theory to link environment to health, differentiating between contextual and compositional effects and their place in the role of social capital. I also analyze racial differences in mortality, and connect social capital theory with mortality to examine whether the spatial patterning of mortality is due to spatial processes that occur in the cause of death, or spatial patterning of the underlying processes that result in mortality. This insight is used to help shed light on why these racial differences might exist.

Author

• Chris Prather, Pennsylvania State University