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J Fox N, Powell K. Non-human matter, health disparities and a thousand tiny dis/advantages. Sociol Health Illn. 2021;43(3):779-795doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13265.
J Fox, N., & Powell, K. (2021). Non-human matter, health disparities and a thousand tiny dis/advantages. Sociology of health & illness, 43(3), 779-795. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13265
J Fox, Nick, and Powell, Katie. "Non-human matter, health disparities and a thousand tiny dis/advantages." Sociology of health & illness vol. 43,3 (2021): 779-795. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13265
J Fox N, Powell K. Non-human matter, health disparities and a thousand tiny dis/advantages. Sociol Health Illn. 2021 Mar;43(3):779-795. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13265. Epub 2021 Mar 15. PMID: 33720407.
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Sociol Health Illn. 2021 Mar;43(3):779-795. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13265. Epub 2021 Mar 15.

Non-human matter, health disparities and a thousand tiny dis/advantages.

Sociology of health & illness

Nick J Fox, Katie Powell

Affiliations

  1. Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences, School of Health and Human Research, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK.
  2. Health Equity and Inclusion Research Group, School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.

PMID: 33720407 DOI: 10.1111/1467-9566.13265

Abstract

The materialist thread within health sociology has observed a clear gradient linking inequalities in health with measures of social class and poverty. More recently, Bourdieu's approach to social class complemented the 'economic capital' of Marxist analysis with 'symbolic' capitals such as 'social' and 'cultural'. However, efforts to assess how symbolic capital interacts with health disparities reveal complex or contradictory effects. In this paper, we re-materialise the study of health and social position via a new materialist focus on the interactions between humans and non-human matter (NHM). We analyse empirical data to disclose the range of human/NHM interactions in daily life, and how these affect people's health status. These interactions establish physical, psychological and social opportunities and constraints on what human bodies can do, contributing to relative advantages and disadvantages. We argue for a revised materialist understanding of sociomaterial position as constituted by a 'thousand tiny dis/advantages', and suggest that health and wellbeing are inextricably linked to dis/advantage.

© 2021 The Authors. Sociology of Health & Illness published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Foundation for SHIL (SHIL).

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