The first BU Health Equity Symposium last week was a delightful affair, I suspect the first of many useful activities sponsored by the BU Center for Health Equity. In particular, it was a real pleasure to hear Michael Marmot speak on health inequity. I’ve been really interested by Marmot, the Whitehall studies he headed, and some of the other British scholars of economic inequality whose data suggest that inherent to societal inequality are a host of social ills that arise independent of the material impact of inequality – ie, that inequality itself is unhealthy.
Fascinating and unfortunate implications, and for some reason a topic that seems less discussed here in America than in America. Check out the videos linked above for further discussions around the notion.