ABSTRACT
In this chapter we wish to explore the background to a specific health question relating to the mining and former mining districts of West Yorkshire. Why are standardized mortality ratios for respiratory diseases in these districts double those in the rest of the UK? This question links with the aims of this volume in that we hope to challenge purely medical interpretations of its answer, and we will stress the significance of socio-economic conditions, which predispose the population to chest diseases. Further we shall break with a tendency, found particularly in the study of mining districts, but not only there, to concentrate upon the men, and we will point to the situation of both men and women.
