How do people themselves think about inequalities in health? The topic has rarely been investigated, and oblique evidence has to be drawn from research on general lay ideas about health and the causes of illness. Data from a large British survey are combined with a review of the extensive body...

The purpose of this paper is to offer, as a basis for discussion, a review of the issues involved in a consideration of the role of helth services as a 'defence' against the consequences of poverty. First, some general questions are asked: It is true that industrialised nations have reached a...

An analysis is presented of the concept of 'disease' and its causes, held by one group of middle-aged women brought up in poor social circumstances. The diseases which the women talked about, and their ideas of cause, are shown to be the products of a particular medical and social history. The...