Product Description
The rich countries of the world have remarkably good health. Malaria is long gone from Europe and the USA. Parasitic diseases do not wreak havoc with our lives. Infant mortality is below one in a hundred. Yet even so, where we stand in the social hierarchy is intimately related to our chances of getting ill and to how long we live. And the differences between top and bottom are getting bigger. This eye-opening book is based on more than twenty-five years of research that began with the Whitehall Studies in the 1980s. These showed that even among white-collar employees with steady jobs there is a clear social gradient in health. Michael Marmot's subsequent work took him round the world as he puzzled out the relationship between health and social circumstances. Everywhere from the US to Russia, from the Mediterranean to Australia, from Southern India to Japan, similar patterns emerged, showing that control over our lives and opportunities for full social participation are key factors for good health.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 5 reviews)

*****

An important book, I think, because it's drilled into our brains that we shouldn't smoke, shouldn't eat bacon, should exercise, etc., because to do otherwise is bad for our health. But we're also supposed to shrug off our classmate getting wealthy when we're not; the beautiful woman/man yawning in our face; getting picked last for basketball, etc. "Oh, well, such things happen." But those things happening are arguably worse for us than smoking! (Probably why Keith Richards is still alive and well despite all his self-abuse: playing to adoring stadium crowds every couple years is countering the effects of his continued substance abuse and chain smoking!) This book shares evidence that, even if you externally shrug status shortfalls off, internally such status shortfalls will eat away (literally!) at your insides. I think of this book when I find myself lapsing into laziness. It's a good motivator!
November 06, 2008

An important contribution to understanding health inequalities

Marmot began his important work on social determinants of health with two long term studies of the British Civil Service finding that those who enjoyed higher status roles had better health and longer life expectancy than those who had lower status roles. This gradient from higher to lower applied throughout the service. Why was it so? And did it apply in other social and cultural contexts?

This book is a compelling exploration of the commonality of this phenomenum throughout both developed/transitional and developing country contexts, exploring the evidence and sifting the reasons for it. Status is found to be crucial - people with more opportunity to control their lives are more resiliant to stress and enjoy better health as a result (I simplify). It is not that healthier people enjoy better status because they are healthier - an argument carefully considered and dismissed - but people enjoying social contexts that enable them to secure status will enjoy better health and longer life. This applies as much to the rich social opportunities of Kerala in India as it does to an upper middle class suburb in the United States. Poverty, in itself, once basic needs are met, is not the issue as long as it is equally shared with all, what matters is the disequilibrium between people's status and being in the population denied access to opportunity to control one's life. The book is well-written, closely argued, and could change how you see the world for good.
December 20, 2005

A book of socialist faith, not reason

Open Professor Marmot's book to almost any page and see him make firm statements and firm conclusions about research and anecdotal evidence which are in fact quite uncertain. It seems reasonable that status affects health, indeed I believe it does, but Professor Marmot throws anecdotes or questionable research conclusions at the troublesome fact that healthier people will achieve greater status, or in other words that healthier people are healthier.

Professor Marmot cares only about "inequality", not evil. For example, he appears to see no difference between the millions of Russians murdered by Stalin during Communist rule and the millions of Russians who have had shortened life expectancies during the collapse and aftermath of Communist rule, supposedly as a result of "inequality". Could these tens of millions of deaths have been due to people like Professor Marmot who sought a government-mandated end to inequality, and not to inequality itself?

Perhaps because the book promotes a politically correct, leftist, government-solution, tax and spend agenda as a solution for "inequality", it does not appear to have attracted serious criticism of its scholarship.

November 24, 2005

Invaluable teaching aid for public health students

This book is the perfect introduction to the study of Health Inequalities, especially in the context of occupational health. Students are gripped.
October 03, 2005

A topic in its infancy

You are a hot shot in a company, though not the boss. You are paid extremely well, but, again you have plenty of bosses above you (say the partners of an investment firm). Is it better than deriving a modest income being your own boss? The counterintuive answer is NO. You will live longer in the second situation, even controlling for diet, lifestyle, and genetic predispositions.
Marmot spent years poring over data; he left no stone unturned and is well read in the general literature on human nature. This idea of people living longer when they exert control over their lives has not spread yet. That people lead longer lives when they trust their neighbors and feel part of a community is far reaching. Just think of the implications on social justice etc. Also think that everything you learn on human preferences and well-being in both economics and medicine is either incomplete (medicine) or bogus (economics).
The book is well written, humorous at times, and rigorous --it reads like a well-translated scientific paper. But it feels that it is just the introduction to a topic. Please, write the continuation.

September 28, 2004

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Social Determinants of Health
by Michael Marmot, Richard G. Wilkinson

Forgive and Remember: Managing Medical Failure, 2nd Edition
by Charles L. Bosk

Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care
by Nicholas A. Christakis

How Doctors Think
by Jerome Groopman

Mind the Gap: Hierarchies, Health, and Human Evolution
by Richard G. Wilkinson