SOCIOLOGY PAPER

Sociology Paper

Sociology Paper

Introduction

For this particular paper, I have selected the topic of healthcare disparities for African-American people. For this assignment, I visited a local hospital in Chicago suburb and had a good interactive session with the physicians and the patients being treated there. While taking field notes, it was noted that most of the people were blaming the healthcare infrastructure. This paper thus presents the causes of healthcare disparities, access to healthcare and solutions to such problems particularly facing the Afro-American community.

Causes of Healthcare Disparities

The major contributors to racial/ethnic health disparities are racial discrimination, residential segregation, socioeconomic position, and access to quality health care. Racial discrimination has recently emerged as an important risk factor for health—one that is differentially distributed across racial/ethnic groups and may contribute to elevated health risks for African Americans (Williams, 2006). For example, recent research reveals that a substantial proportion of African Americans experience racial discrimination, and there is evidence that racial discrimination is adversely related to multiple indicators of health status, including self-rated physical and mental health, blood pressure, and other cardiovascular outcomes.

Racial Discrimination

Although the extant evidence on racial discrimination and health focuses on African Americans, research suggests that the health of other racial/ethnic groups (e.g., Hispanics) also could be affected by racial discrimination. For instance, although research on racial discrimination and health outcomes among Hispanics is scant, the evidence suggests that Hispanics' mental health may be associated with racial discrimination.

Specifically, as with African Americans, several studies suggest an association between self-reported perceived discrimination (based on skin color or race) and mental health among African-Americans (Smedley, 2002). These studies found that self-reported perceived discrimination was associated with worse mental health (as measured by depressive symptoms).

Racial discrimination manifests itself not only at the personal level but also at the institutional level. Residential segregation is an example of the latter. Residential segregation was recently described as a fundamental cause of racial disparities in health. Residential segregation creates disparate physical and social environments between minority groups and Whites (Claudia, 2007). Although residential segregation has been higher for African Americans, other ethnic subgroups also are experiencing residential segregation.

The differential in the social environment associated with residential segregation leads to restricted access to education and employment opportunities. This restricted access to economic resources has implications for socioeconomic mobility among African Americans and other minority groups (Braveman, 2006). This constraint in social mobility could further translate into conditions detrimental to health. Moreover, the physical environment also could be affected by residential segregation. Specifically, segregated areas are more likely to have elevated exposure to noxious pollutants and allergens that may adversely affect the health of the residents of the area (Williams, 2006).

Residential Segregation

The social characteristics of segregated areas can lead to the adoption of healthy or unhealthy behaviors. Evidence suggests that segregated areas tend to lack recreational facilities and to be less safe than more racially/ethnically diverse communities, and these are characteristics associated with physical inactivity. Moreover, these areas are heavily targeted by the tobacco and alcohol ...