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What do the British public think of inequality in health, wealth, and power?

cam.issuedOnline2019-01-12
dc.contributor.authorHowarth, DR
dc.contributor.authorMarteau, Theresa
dc.contributor.authorCoutts, Adam
dc.contributor.authorHuppert, Julian
dc.contributor.authorPinto, Pedro Ramos
dc.contributor.orcidMarteau, Theresa [0000-0003-3025-1129]
dc.contributor.orcidCoutts, Adam [0000-0002-5167-6591]
dc.date.accessioned2019-01-16T00:30:52Z
dc.date.available2019-01-16T00:30:52Z
dc.date.issued2019-02
dc.description.abstractAbstract: Given the importance of public opinion for policy formation and the salience of inequality as a political issue, little attention has been given to the public's views about the desirability of equality, not only in health but also in economics and politics. We report the results of an on-line survey of attitudes to equality carried out in late 2016 in Great Britain (N=1667, response rate 35-50%) across these different domains. The survey allowed for testing whether public opinion is sensitive to different conceptions of equality across two other variables: absolute versus relative (everyone should have the same versus inequality should be reduced) and bivariate versus univariate (inequality in one domain, e.g. health, is judged in relation to inequality in another (e.g. income) versus inequality in a domain is judged independently of other domains). It also allowed us to see, across those conceptions, the extent to which support for equality in one domain overlaps with support for equality in another domain. We find that for health, economic and political equality a relative conception of equality generally attracts more support than an absolute conception, and that for health and political equality a bivariate conception attracts more support than a univariate conception. We also find that conceptions of equality affect how much overlap exists between support for equality across different domains, with a bivariate and relative conception resulting in much more overlap than a univariate and absolute conception. We also find evidence of support for Michael Walzer's 'complex equality' theory in which we tolerate inequality in one domain as long as it does not determine inequality in another. In Britain, respondents object not so much to economic inequality itself as to its determining both political inequality and health inequality.
dc.description.sponsorshipYouGov Cambridge provided survey services without charge
dc.identifier.doi10.17863/CAM.35348
dc.identifier.eissn1873-5347
dc.identifier.issn0277-9536
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/288029
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.publisher.urlhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.01.006
dc.subjectConceptions of inequality
dc.subjectEconomic inequality
dc.subjectHealth inequality
dc.subjectPolitical inequality
dc.subjectPublic opinion
dc.subjectHealth Status Disparities
dc.subjectHumans
dc.subjectIncome
dc.subjectPolitics
dc.subjectPublic Opinion
dc.subjectQuality of Life
dc.subjectSocial Determinants of Health
dc.subjectSurveys and Questionnaires
dc.subjectUnited Kingdom
dc.titleWhat do the British public think of inequality in health, wealth, and power?
dc.typeArticle
dcterms.dateAccepted2018-10-19
prism.endingPage206
prism.publicationNameSocial Science and Medicine
prism.startingPage198
prism.volume222
pubs.funder-project-idArts and Humanities Research Council (AH/J001600/2)
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate2018-10-19
rioxxterms.licenseref.urihttp://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved
rioxxterms.typeJournal Article/Review
rioxxterms.versionAM
rioxxterms.versionofrecord10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.01.006

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