I found it interesting reading about the wealth inequalities and the psycho-social

factors surrounding classed health inequalities. A key point was how the poor
have high rates of illness and a short life expectancy (Germov 2014, Ch. 5). It
made me think about my own class and health experiences. Out of all my friends
the ones from lower class families tend to be the ones who smoke. Statistics
from the Australian Bureau of Statistics also show that smoking rate increase in
disadvantaged groups (Abs.gov.au, 2016). As discussed in the chapter (Germov
2014, Ch. 5) I believe it is more than class affecting health. It is other elements
within a class such as the psycho-social factors. My friends who smoke grew up
around people who smoked and when they got older they too started smoking. I,
however, grew up in a middle-class family who didn't smoke. I inherited my
family's opinion of smoking, that it is bad for you. Although we grew up in the
same area there are still cultural health habits between the classes. This got me
thinking about how much influence culture has on us. We all got the same
education from school about smoking being bad, but their cultural experiences
overrode that knowledge and influenced them to smoke. This shows culture has
a huge impact on health. Educating people on health issues seems like it is only
part of the answer to solving health issues, there also needs to be a cultural shift.
For me, the most significant thing I learnt was that there are many contributing
factors that go into health. These factors affect and are affected by each other. In
order to solve health issues, you need to address all the contributing factors.
For me, another significant learning experience came when in class we played a
game called StarPower (Shirt 1968)1. This demonstrates what happens in a
classed society. I found it interesting that I felt protective of my group. It is like
we become a community, this is probably because the idea of mateship is rooted
in our national identity (Big Black Dog Communications Pty Ltd, 2007). I didnt
want to lose value by going down a group I also didnt want that for the others in
my group. Previously Ive questioned why we dont change the wealth
inequalities in this country and why as a society we are so selfish. To change the
wealth inequalities the upper class would have to give up some of their wealth.
This selfish outlook could be because success seems to be measured in wealth
and there is such a huge importance put on success. I understand why people
become selfish. If being financially wealthy is what you strive for, why would you
give it up once you have it? This knowledge is important to have when thinking
about issues with a classed society. The current systems we have in place cause
the behaviours I observed in the game. Therefore, we would have to change the
systems and attitudes in society in order to change the behaviour of the people.
We were told that often when the game is played longer the people in the lowest
group start mucking around and no longer care about the game, that any effort
would be futile because they cannot progress in the game. Then the victim
blaming starts, for example, they are not succeeding because they are not
trying. This is similar to what happens in society. It is easy to start victim blaming
and it happens a lot in society. I am guilty of this before I started this topic, I
would look at the individual and I never looked at the whole picture which is
1 HPLE1540, 1/4/16 ,week 5

problematic because I was not dealing with the key issue. Now, I realise the
importance of looking past the individual to society as a whole to try and find the
actual cause of the problem. Having this shift in thinking I believe it is important
to teach people to look at the whole picture and not to victim blame. If we were
all taught to look at the big picture I think it would cause a cultural shift and
move us away from the victim blaming way of thinking we currently have.
Addressing the big picture creates more effective positive change that benefits
society. I would like to do further research into how other cultures and countries
look a health and wealth.
Health is an important issue that we should all be educated on. Through this
topic I now have a better understanding of the systems and inequalities in this
country and how they affect our nations health. Having learnt about class and
health I still believe class has a part in society. As Germov (2014, p.94) said "the
reason for class-based health inequality particularly health-damaging behaviours
remain unclear. The social patterning of behaviour clearly indicates that it is not
simply an outcome of individual choice: there are social processes at work."
Class has an effect on health. However, it is just one of many factors such as
gender and ethnicity that contribute to health. This has further developed my
understanding that community health should be looked at not just an individual's
health. The individual view on health is problematic. I believe that educating
people on health and the issues surrounding health will move us to a more
community-minded way of thinking. My knowledge on health has grown
significantly through this topic. I plan to continue developing my knowledge on
health.
References:
Abs.gov.au. (2016). 4338.0 - Profiles of Health, Australia, 2011-13. [online]
Available at: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by
%20Subject/4338.0~2011-13~Main%20Features~Tobacco%20smoking~10008
[Accessed 30 Apr. 2016].
Banfield, G. (2016). HLPE1540 Workshop, Flinders University, Bedford Park
Big Black Dog Communications Pty Ltd (2007), Mateship, diggers and wartime,
[online] Available at: http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australianstory/mateship-diggers-and-wartime [Accessed 31 Mar. 2016].
Germov, j. (ed.) Second Opinion 5th edition South Melbourne: Oxford University
Press
Shirt, G 1993, StarPower, Del mar, CA: Simulation Training Systems.