Health Sciences 1002A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Determinant, White Privilege, Genetic Variation

• School: Western University
• Department: Health Sciences
• Course: Health Sciences 1002A/B
• Professor: Shauna Burke

Document Summary

Lecture 12: the social construction of race: exploring the links between racism and health. Class 13 and 14: racism as a determinant of health. Gender: traditionally and generally males have greater access to power and resources than females, example: domestic labour defined as unproductive, gender paradox men die quicker but women are sicker. When you think of race what do you think of: racism, skin colour, black people, inequalities, police brutality, prejudice, random searches, white privilege, ethnicity. Are discernable patterns in how health is distributed according to (what we have come to understand as) race or ethnicity. But without reflecting on what these means and reflect, we run the risk of naturalizing social differences and reproducing racist assumptions. Race is not a genetic or biological trait. It is a social and political characteristic that we use to rank different groups of people on the basis of physical characteristic. An enduring social category that captures differential access to power and resources.