This study investigates how socially and economically disadvantaged young people, living in a semi-rural, post-industrial Atlantic Canadian community, experience and perceive social and economic health -- defined as participants' sense of comfort and security that their social and economic needs are, and will continue to be, met in their community. I argue that social and educational policies and practices must reflect the realities of local citizens if they aim to interrupt regional health disparities. A key objective of this research is to expose and challenge gender, class, and regional inequalities through an analysis of young adults' social and economic health experiences and perceptions. Drawing primarily upon Pierre Bourdieu's (1990b; 2001)concepts -- habitus, field, and symbolic domination -- relations between gender, class,and historical circumstances theoretically inform this research. Employing a critical ethnographic methodological framework (Madison, 2005),experiences and perceptions of ten economically disadvantaged youth -- five women and five men, ages 19-30 -- were gathered through focus groups, individual interviews, participant observation, critical dialogue (using media to stimulate dialogue among participants), and an adaptation of photovoice (a technique combining photography and narrative). Results suggest that the social and economic health needs of economically disadvantaged young adults are not being met. They confirm Bourdieu's (1999a)assertion of an interrelationship between physical place and the positioning of agents in social fields. Participants navigate economic, cultural, and social fields, aware of their social positioning as they 'work' the fields in order to secure enough capital to 'get by'. Their struggles are examples of symbolic domination and suggest a significant psycho-social cost to young adults seeking social and economic health through various fields. Analyses of their experiences suggest a disjuncture between gendered identities ascribed to participants through historically-rooted habitus and contemporary social fields. Recommendations call for gender, class, and regional inequalities to be addressed through structural interventions and investment in long term community-based education that is integrated with local economic development initiatives. Furthermore, this research calls attention to how research agendas and procedures can actually reinforce marginalization, making it difficult for the voices of disadvantaged communities to enter into dominant public discourse.

This study investigates how socially and economically disadvantaged young people, living in a semi-rural, post-industrial Atlantic Canadian community, experience and perceive social and economic health -- defined as participants' sense of comfort and security that their social and economic needs are, and will continue to be, met in their community. I argue that social and educational policies and practices must reflect the realities of local citizens if they aim to interrupt regional health disparities. A key objective of this research is to expose and challenge gender, class, and regional inequalities through an analysis of young adults' social and economic health experiences and perceptions. Drawing primarily upon Pierre Bourdieu's (1990b; 2001)concepts -- habitus, field, and symbolic domination -- relations between gender, class,and historical circumstances theoretically inform this research. Employing a critical ethnographic methodological framework (Madison, 2005),experiences and perceptions of ten economically disadvantaged youth -- five women and five men, ages 19-30 -- were gathered through focus groups, individual interviews, participant observation, critical dialogue (using media to stimulate dialogue among participants), and an adaptation of photovoice (a technique combining photography and narrative). Results suggest that the social and economic health needs of economically disadvantaged young adults are not being met. They confirm Bourdieu's (1999a)assertion of an interrelationship between physical place and the positioning of agents in social fields. Participants navigate economic, cultural, and social fields, aware of their social positioning as they 'work' the fields in order to secure enough capital to 'get by'. Their struggles are examples of symbolic domination and suggest a significant psycho-social cost to young adults seeking social and economic health through various fields. Analyses of their experiences suggest a disjuncture between gendered identities ascribed to participants through historically-rooted habitus and contemporary social fields. Recommendations call for gender, class, and regional inequalities to be addressed through structural interventions and investment in long term community-based education that is integrated with local economic development initiatives. Furthermore, this research calls attention to how research agendas and procedures can actually reinforce marginalization, making it difficult for the voices of disadvantaged communities to enter into dominant public discourse.

This study investigates how socially and economically disadvantaged young people, living in a semi-rural, post-industrial Atlantic Canadian community, experience and perceive social and economic health -- defined as participants' sense of comfort and security that their social and economic needs are, and will continue to be, met in their community. I argue that social and educational policies and practices must reflect the realities of local citizens if they aim to interrupt regional health disparities. A key objective of this research is to expose and challenge gender, class, and regional inequalities through an analysis of young adults' social and economic health experiences and perceptions. Drawing primarily upon Pierre Bourdieu's (1990b; 2001)concepts -- habitus, field, and symbolic domination -- relations between gender, class,and historical circumstances theoretically inform this research. Employing a critical ethnographic methodological framework (Madison, 2005),experiences and perceptions of ten economically disadvantaged youth -- five women and five men, ages 19-30 -- were gathered through focus groups, individual interviews, participant observation, critical dialogue (using media to stimulate dialogue among participants), and an adaptation of photovoice (a technique combining photography and narrative). Results suggest that the social and economic health needs of economically disadvantaged young adults are not being met. They confirm Bourdieu's (1999a)assertion of an interrelationship between physical place and the positioning of agents in social fields. Participants navigate economic, cultural, and social fields, aware of their social positioning as they 'work' the fields in order to secure enough capital to 'get by'. Their struggles are examples of symbolic domination and suggest a significant psycho-social cost to young adults seeking social and economic health through various fields. Analyses of their experiences suggest a disjuncture between gendered identities ascribed to participants through historically-rooted habitus and contemporary social fields. Recommendations call for gender, class, and regional inequalities to be addressed through structural interventions and investment in long term community-based education that is integrated with local economic development initiatives. Furthermore, this research calls attention to how research agendas and procedures can actually reinforce marginalization, making it difficult for the voices of disadvantaged communities to enter into dominant public discourse. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar possíveis desigualdades sócio-econômicas na saúde no Estado de São Paulo e no Município de Ribeirão Preto. Os dados utilizados para São Paulo são provenientes da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD) de 2003, realizada pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), e que apresenta características dos indivíduos e do domicílio. A base para Ribeirão Preto consiste em uma coorte desenvolvida pelo departamento de Puericultura e Pediatria de Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto da USP no período de junho de 1978 a maio de 1979. Analisou-se a distribuição das variáveis relativas à saúde (doenças crônicas e auto-avaliação) entre quintis de renda. Adicionalmente, foram calculados Índices de Concentração de Saúde, cuja construção é semelhante a do Índice de Gini. Esse índice considera a proporção acumulada de determinada doença e a proporção acumulada da população, ordenada de forma crescente de acordo com a renda. Foram estimados também os impactos de algumas variáveis explicativas sobre a probabilidade de apresentar determinada doença ou de se auto-avaliar de determinada forma. Para o Estado de São Paulo consideraram-se como variáveis explicativas: escolaridade, sexo, cor e idade (todas variáveis dummy). Para Ribeirão Preto foram consideradas como variáveis explicativas: escolaridade, o fato de um dos pais apresentar a doença em questão, o fato de um dos pais apresentar alguma outra doença crônica, sexo e cor (todas variáveis dummy). O método de estimação utilizado para analisar o impacto sobre a probabilidade de apresentar dada doença foi o Probit. Já para auto-avaliação foi utilizado o Probit Ordenado. Os resultados para o Estado de São Paulo demonstraram, em sua maioria, desigualdade na saúde em favor dos ricos. Além disso, em geral, quanto maior a escolaridade menor a probabilidade de apresentar determinada doença. Em relação a Ribeirão Preto, os resultados não foram totalmente conclusivos, uma vez a quarta etapa da coorte apresentou indivíduos de 22 a 26 anos, cuja faixa etária apresenta pequena incidência de doenças crônicas. Todavia, notou-se que a saúde dos pais influencia na saúde dos filhos, tanto por meio de características transmitidas, quanto devido ao fato de que pais com saúde ruim não devem poder ter muitos gastos com a saúde dos filhos. / The aim of this work was to evaluated eventual socio-economic health inequalities in State of São Paulo and Municipal District of Ribeirão Preto. The data related to São Paulo were obtained from the National Survey by Households Sampling (PNAD) of 2003, elaborated by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), which presents individual and household characteristics. The Ribeirão Preto database consists in a cohort developed by the Pediatrics and Puericulture Department of the Ribeirão Preto Medical School-USP in the period between June of 1978 and May of 1979. It was analyzed the distribution of the health variables (chronicle diseases and self-assessment) between quintiles of income. In addition, it were calculated Health Concentration Indexes, whose construction is similar to the Gini Indexes. This index considers the accumulated proportion of certain disease and the accumulated proportion of the population, ordered according to the income. It was also estimated the impacts of some explanatory variables on the probability of presenting certain disease or self-assessing in certain way. For the State of São Paulo it was considered as explanatory variables: education, gender, race and age (all dummy variables). For the Municipal District of Ribeirão Preto it was considered as explanatory variables: education, the fact that one of the parents has the disease, the fact that one of the parents has another chronicle disease, gender and race (all dummy variables). It was employed the Probit method to analyze the impact on the probability of presenting certain illness. For the self-assessment variable, the Ordered Probit method was employed. Generally, the results for the State of São Paulo showed inequality in benefit of the richest. Besides, in general, the higher the education the lower is the probability of having certain disease. In the case of Ribeirão Preto, the results weren?t totally conclusive, since the fourth stage of the cohort presented individuals between 22 and 26 years old, whose age class show little incidence of chronicle diseases. Nevertheless, one can note that the health of the parents influences the health of their sons. As for the fact that certain characteristics are passed on, as for the fact that ill parents should not have large expenses with the health of their sons.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar possíveis desigualdades sócio-econômicas na saúde no Estado de São Paulo e no Município de Ribeirão Preto. Os dados utilizados para São Paulo são provenientes da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD) de 2003, realizada pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), e que apresenta características dos indivíduos e do domicílio. A base para Ribeirão Preto consiste em uma coorte desenvolvida pelo departamento de Puericultura e Pediatria de Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto da USP no período de junho de 1978 a maio de 1979. Analisou-se a distribuição das variáveis relativas à saúde (doenças crônicas e auto-avaliação) entre quintis de renda. Adicionalmente, foram calculados Índices de Concentração de Saúde, cuja construção é semelhante a do Índice de Gini. Esse índice considera a proporção acumulada de determinada doença e a proporção acumulada da população, ordenada de forma crescente de acordo com a renda. Foram estimados também os impactos de algumas variáveis explicativas sobre a probabilidade de apresentar determinada doença ou de se auto-avaliar de determinada forma. Para o Estado de São Paulo consideraram-se como variáveis explicativas: escolaridade, sexo, cor e idade (todas variáveis dummy). Para Ribeirão Preto foram consideradas como variáveis explicativas: escolaridade, o fato de um dos pais apresentar a doença em questão, o fato de um dos pais apresentar alguma outra doença crônica, sexo e cor (todas variáveis dummy). O método de estimação utilizado para analisar o impacto sobre a probabilidade de apresentar dada doença foi o Probit. Já para auto-avaliação foi utilizado o Probit Ordenado. Os resultados para o Estado de São Paulo demonstraram, em sua maioria, desigualdade na saúde em favor dos ricos. Além disso, em geral, quanto maior a escolaridade menor a probabilidade de apresentar determinada doença. Em relação a Ribeirão Preto, os resultados não foram totalmente conclusivos, uma vez a quarta etapa da coorte apresentou indivíduos de 22 a 26 anos, cuja faixa etária apresenta pequena incidência de doenças crônicas. Todavia, notou-se que a saúde dos pais influencia na saúde dos filhos, tanto por meio de características transmitidas, quanto devido ao fato de que pais com saúde ruim não devem poder ter muitos gastos com a saúde dos filhos. / The aim of this work was to evaluated eventual socio-economic health inequalities in State of São Paulo and Municipal District of Ribeirão Preto. The data related to São Paulo were obtained from the National Survey by Households Sampling (PNAD) of 2003, elaborated by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), which presents individual and household characteristics. The Ribeirão Preto database consists in a cohort developed by the Pediatrics and Puericulture Department of the Ribeirão Preto Medical School-USP in the period between June of 1978 and May of 1979. It was analyzed the distribution of the health variables (chronicle diseases and self-assessment) between quintiles of income. In addition, it were calculated Health Concentration Indexes, whose construction is similar to the Gini Indexes. This index considers the accumulated proportion of certain disease and the accumulated proportion of the population, ordered according to the income. It was also estimated the impacts of some explanatory variables on the probability of presenting certain disease or self-assessing in certain way. For the State of São Paulo it was considered as explanatory variables: education, gender, race and age (all dummy variables). For the Municipal District of Ribeirão Preto it was considered as explanatory variables: education, the fact that one of the parents has the disease, the fact that one of the parents has another chronicle disease, gender and race (all dummy variables). It was employed the Probit method to analyze the impact on the probability of presenting certain illness. For the self-assessment variable, the Ordered Probit method was employed. Generally, the results for the State of São Paulo showed inequality in benefit of the richest. Besides, in general, the higher the education the lower is the probability of having certain disease. In the case of Ribeirão Preto, the results weren?t totally conclusive, since the fourth stage of the cohort presented individuals between 22 and 26 years old, whose age class show little incidence of chronicle diseases. Nevertheless, one can note that the health of the parents influences the health of their sons. As for the fact that certain characteristics are passed on, as for the fact that ill parents should not have large expenses with the health of their sons.