Health Inequalities by Education in European Welfare Regimes: The Contribution of Individual Social Capital

Abstract

Numerous studies show that social status is linked to health, and that there are health inequalities related to education, income, class, and ethnicity. Consequently, people in higher social positions live longer and have less health problems than people in lower positions (The Black Report; Marmot, 2004; Fritzell and Lundberg, 2007; Marmot and Commission on Social Determinants of Health, 2007; Rostila and Toivanen, 2012). Such health inequalities cannot be explained by genetic variations between individuals in society or by the individual choices that people make in everyday life. Social inequalities in health are rather related to the social determinants of health (Marmot and Commission on Social Determinants of Health, 2007). Consequently, people’s social position influences what they eat, how much alcohol they drink, whether they smoke, where they live, whether they experience high stress, et cetera. Previous studies have also suggested that social inequalities in health vary by welfare regime type (Bambra, 2007; Eikemo et al., 2008a; 2008b; Bambra and Eikemo, 2009). Nevertheless, empirical evidence on whether social capital accounts for health inequalities is scarce.