Social practice, plural lifestyles and health inequalities in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Persistent health inequalities pose a continued research and policy challenge in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Current approaches to health research and promotion are predicated on a distinction between wider, social structural causes and individual, health-related behaviours often conceived of as lifestyle choices. Drawing on Bourdieu's theory of social practice, this paper develops an integrated perspective by observing associations between health and structured lifestyle practices. Using the UK Understanding Society household survey, a taxonomy of eight lifestyle clusters is identified, which exhibit significant health inequalities on a number of indicators. But the plurality of practices and subjective orientations inherent in the taxonomy reveals a finer, more complex differentiation of the social gradient in health. In addition, lifestyle appears to at least in parts mediate the relationship between social, material conditions and health. A feature of the taxonomy is that it admits a relational and contextual apprehension of health-relevant, behavioural aspects within a more holistic notion of lifestyles. Based on this view, strategic approaches can be developed that respond to group-specific situations and pathways and their varying roots in upstream or downstream domains of policy.

“We Don’t Assume That Everyone Has the Same Idea About Health, Do We?” Explorative Study of Citizens’ Perceptions of Health and Participation to Improve Their Health in a Low Socioeconomic City District

“…This corresponds to contemporary theories of social practice that suggest that “interventions to improve the health of populations and create positive social change will be better served by targeting social practices rather than the attitudes, behaviour and choices of individuals” [ 66 ]. In these theories, health and wellbeing are considered outcomes of a set of social practices, part of everyday life, and not only the result of a healthy lifestyle [ 10 ].…”

“…Therefore, strategies to reduce health inequities should be based on an ecological perspective, target the social determinants of health, and address factors at multiple levels and the interaction between factors [7][8][9]. Research on health inequities within different lifestyle groups has shown that individual health-related behaviors are bound up in activities that correspond to the person's context (habitus) combined with his/her position in social space and subjective perceptions [10]. Consequently, health promotion ought not to target the individual health-related behavior or social participation/engagement in the neighborhood but rather consider the underlying drivers and their causes [11][12][13].…”

Critical health literacy: reflection and action for health

“…their CHL), we call upon Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice ( Bourdieu, 1977a ; Bourdieu and Passeron, 1990 ) and his concepts of habitus and capital ( Abel and Frohlich, 2012 ). Bourdieu’s theory of practice has been successfully applied to study how health inequalities are reproduced ( Williams, 1995 ; Veenstra 2007 ; Schori et al 2014 ; Jeong and Veenstra, 2017 ), including social patterning of health lifestyles, beliefs and health behaviours ( Cockerham et al, 1997 ; De Clercq et al, 2017 ; Gagné et al, 2018 ; Kandt, 2018 ).…”

(Un)healthy lifestyles of Sheffield’s residents: Socio-economic and psychosocial deprivation

“…Further, Bourdieu's concepts of capital as a classificatory mechanism and as a driver of social hierarchy and division of both urban social and geographical space will be discussed in the context of urban health inequalities (cf. Kandt, 2015Kandt, , 2018. In particular, it will be discussed in relation to urban disparities and the determinants of a heathy lifestyle in Sheffield's socially and geographically divided space (ibid.…”

“…Spatial deprivation in less affluent neighbourhoods creates significantly distinctive (unhealthy) lifestyles compared with more affluent neighbourhoods (Brownson, Fielding & Maylahn, 2009;Estabrooks, Lee & Gyurcsik, 2003;Kandt, 2015Kandt, , 2018. In the context of a healthy lifestyle, the stratified structure of urban areas and the geographical position and quality of neighbourhoods, seems particularly interesting.…”