Human Biology and Social Inequality

This book reviews why measures of biological variation have long been associated with the indices of social inequality.

Simon S. Strickland (Edited by), Prakash S. Shetty (Edited by)

9780521570435, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 May 1998

360 pages, 14 b/w illus. 34 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.65 kg

"...the individual papers provide quite useful reviews and information and, taken together, make an important contribution to an underdeveloped field of human biology." American Journal of Human Biology

Measures of biological variation have long been associated with many indices of social inequality. Data on health, nutrition, fertility, mortality, physical fitness, intellectual performance and a range of heritable biological markers show the ubiquity of such patterns across time, space and population. This volume reviews the current evidence for the strength of such linkages and the biological and social mechanisms that underlie them. A major theme is the relationship between the proximate determinants of these linkages and their longer-term significance for biologically selective social mobility. This book therefore addresses the question of how social stratification mediates processes of natural selection in human groups. Data like this pose difficult and sensitive issues for health policy and developments in this area and in eugenics are reviewed for industrialised and developing countries.

1. Human biology and social inequality Simon Strickland and Prakash Shetty
2. Social inequalities and health in the contemporary world: comparative overview Sally MacIntyre
3. Accumulation of health risks across social groups in a national longitudinal study Chris Power and Sharon Matthews
4. Equity, social cohesion and health Richard G. Wilkinson
5. Growth and maturation problems of children and social inequality during economic liberalisation in Central and Eastern Europe Otto G. Eiben
6. Social inequalities in the re-emergence of infectious disease John D. H. Porter and Jessica A. Ogden
7. Environmental health, social inequality and biological differences Lawrence M. Schell and Stefan A. Czerwinski
8. Educational potential and attainment: long-term implications of childhood under-nutrition Sara Stinson
9. Affluence in developing countries and natural selection in humans Kerin O'Dea
10. Physical activity, sport, social status and Darwinian fitness Robert M. Malina
11. Biological correlates of social and geographical mobility in humans: an overview C. G. Nicholas Mascie-Tyalor
12. How female reproductive decisions cause social inequality in male reproductive fitness: evidence from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Germany Eckhart Voland and Athanasios Chasiotis
13. Environmental constraints, social inequality and reproductive success. A case-study in Morocco Emile Crognier
14. The emergence of health and social inequalities in the archaeological record Mark Nathan Cohen
15. Eugenics and population policies A. H. Bittles and Y-Y. Chew
16. The policy implications of health inequalities in developing countries Carolyn Stephens
17. Policy options for managing health inequalities in industrial and post-industrial countries Yoav Ben-Shlomo and Michael G. Marmot
Index.

Subject Areas: Human biology [PSX]