ABSTRACT
The work of Karl Marx and E. Durkheim has directly, or indirectly, influenced those working on the ‘structural determinants’ of health on the one hand and those working on the ‘psychosocial determinants’ of health on the other. Perhaps one of the most influential contemporary research studies into the social determinants of health has been the Whitehall studies, a three-decade long examination of the health of British civil servants, who all had stable jobs and lived in relatively affluent areas. While socioeconomic position (most frequently measured through a combination of income, employment and education levels) has received the most attention as a social determinant of health, other factors include housing, transport, food and social supports. In countries like Australia, with the important exception of groups such as Indigenous Australians, the availability of social security entitlements means that most individuals have at least theoretical access to the means of avoiding such absolute poverty.
