If Only They Would Make Better Choices

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The second intervention will address socioeconomic status as a social determinant of health. People living in poverty are disadvantaged economically, socially, and politically. The spheres of location are a tool to represent the health disparities found in urban and rural areas. Poor neighborhoods are less likely to have access to resources including nutritious food, safe areas to exercise, and quality healthcare. Dawne Mouzon argues in her essay “If Only They Would Make Better Choices” that unequal neighborhoods are a greater factor for health disparities than are individual health choices (Mcclure and Cherise 2015). The theory of constrained choices explains that not everyone has equal opportunity to make healthy decisions. Due to the presence …show more content…
The safety and cleanliness of one’s neighborhood is a fundamental cause of poor health as it is out of the individual’s immediate control. Zoning laws in the US were created to segregate white neighborhoods from communities of color. Homes in black neighborhoods were less expensive due to zoning, with fewer restrictions. There is a high correlation of colocation between low-income neighborhoods, especially those occupied by people of color, and the presence of toxic facility sites (Whittemore 2016). There should be new legislation enacted which rewrites zoning laws to benefit the residents of low-income neighborhoods and outlaws the building of toxic facilities within hazardous distances of residential areas. The perceived safety of one’s neighborhood may change one’s health behaviors, such as the case of children who watch more TV in neighborhoods that mothers perceived to be less safe (Burdette and Whitaker 2005). The documentary Unnatural Causes by Adelman and Smith (2008) portrays the effect that different socioeconomic statuses can have on one’s health, arguing that lower income people suffer greater social and health consequences such as discrimination, hypertension, and infant mortality. The law of oligarchy explains how the power elite make decisions which affect people throughout the social stratification pyramid. Though they have the power to determine health outcomes for the disadvantaged, the power elite will often make choices to benefit only themselves. The intervention to rewrite zoning laws, increase public safety in low-income neighborhoods, and outlaw food deserts will disrupt the law of oligarchy and give societal and political power to at-risk poor
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