Material conditions directly affect health inequalities, not income inequality

Economy class passengers feel worse after a long flight than first class passengers not because they glimpse first class seats as they leave the plane but because they have a cramped seat in a crowded cabin and can't sleep. On p 1200 Lynch et al use this analogy to refute the psychosocial interpretation of health inequalities (which suggests that health is affected through perception of place in the social hierarchy and the wider the inequalities the greater the negative perception); they argue instead that it is material conditions, including public services, that affect health.

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Relevant Article

Income inequality and mortality: importance to health of individual income, psychosocial environment, or material conditions

John W Lynch, George Davey Smith, George A Kaplan, and James S House
BMJ 2000 320: 1200-1204. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]