399 - Section on Medical Sociology Paper Session. Health Inequality: Tracing Trends and Theorizing Processes

Session Submission Type: Paper Session

Abstract

In conjunction with the ASA 2014 meeting theme of examining growing economic inequality and its consequences for Americans, this session focuses on the unequal distribution of health and disease. It solicits papers that both trace trends in health inequalities over time, as well as theorize the mechanisms, pathways, and processes through which inequalities are produced and sustained. Papers utilizing qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methodologies are welcome. The session seeks to achieve a more refined and nuanced picture of health inequalities and also more theoretically informed understandings of where, how, and for whom they are consequential. In so doing the session will extend the capacity of sociological research and theory to contribute to greater health equity and justice.

Sub Unit

• Section on Medical Sociology / Health Inequality: Tracing Trends and Theorizing Processes

Session Organizer

• Janet K. Shim, University of California-San Francisco

Presider

• Janet K. Shim, University of California-San Francisco

Individual Presentations

• Beyond the Socioeconomic Gradient: Reassessing Social Class Inequalities in Health - Yujia Liu, University of South Carolina

• Affording Housing at the Expense of Health: Exploring the Housing and Neighborhood Strategies of Poor Families - Diana Hernandez, Columbia University

• Hyperdiversity and the Use of Culture in Refugee Medicine - Seth Donal Hannah, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Into the Great Unknown: Using Medical Records to Understand the Distribution of Health Risks - Justin T. Denney, Rice University; Kristin M Osiecki, Rice University; Mackenzie Brewer, Rice University; Robert J Griffin, Rice University; Barry L Lefer, University of Houston; Jarron M. Saint Onge, University of Kansas