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Style of life and the salience of health: an exploratory study of health related practices in households from differing socio‐economic circumstances
Author(s) -
Calnan Michael,
Williams Simon
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9566.ep10843620
Subject(s) - salience (neuroscience) , life style , exploratory research , psychology , style (visual arts) , scale (ratio) , social psychology , context (archaeology) , qualitative research , sociology , social determinants of health , social science , economic growth , applied psychology , health care , geography , economics , cognitive psychology , cartography , archaeology
This paper describes results from a small scale study, using qualitative interview methods, which attempts to explain variations in health‐related practices between households living in contrasting social and economic circumstances. The approach and methodology adopted put an emphasis on spontaneous, unprompted discourse, in an attempt to discover how ideas about matters of health and health‐related practices are integrated into routine daily life, and how this routine daily life is shaped by social and economic circumstances. The evidence from this study shows that irrespective of social and economic circumstances, matters of health rarely surfaced in people's descriptions of their lives and neither did health concerns in the context of behaviour. The implications of these and other findings are discussed in an attempt to explain the link between social structure and behaviour.