Are inequalities in health ever justified?

Paper Summary:

Inequalities that present themselves in health are of great interest today, and there has been a lot of insight into possible pathways in which these inequalities may influence health in society. Although a lot of the literature on the topic of inequality has argued the negative effects and injustices that rise from it, this paper focuses on whether these inequalities, can in fact, ever be justified.

From the Paper:

"In order to best deduct a reasonable conclusion about inequality and its effect on health, one must understand the idea of equality and its various perceived relationships that society associates with it. The concept of equality insinuates a "...correspondence between different objects, persons, processes or circumstances that have the same qualities in at least one respect, but not all respects." Therefore a judgment on equality between two objects presumes a difference between the things being compared. Equality is not a measure of indenticality or sameness but as noted, recognition of the differences or inequality present, a comparative measure. The idea of equality, or at least its relevance to health and society, nominates various standpoints that influence the way inequality is upheld. Utilatarianism promotes that the "...interests of all should be treated equally without consideration of interest or an individual's material situation." This concept strictly views each person to be counted as one and equal and therefore there is no claim to higher grounds or importance regardless of contents of interests or an individuals material situation. Therefore in situations wherein interests are present, resources must be fairly aggregated. The fair aggregation of resources is argued by utilitarians as being the pathway that provides maximum utilitisation or benefit. Libertarianism on the other hand represents minimalist positions in relation to equality or distributive justice. The concept asserts an original right to freedom and property and hence argues "...against redistribution of resources and social rights and for the free market." Asserting an opposition to equality, Libertarians argue that the individual right to freedom can only be "...limited for the sake of foreign and domestic peace." This concept holds highly the idea of market freedom, opposing redistributive justice in turn for social justice or equality. A final popular view on equality is the Egalitarian stance which is said to be in favour of equality, more specifically, people should receive the same, be treated the same, or as equals. In health today egalitarian concepts tend to take the side of equality right across the axis, being that it is unfair or unjust (moral significance) for someone to be worse off than another through no fault of their own. Equality and the different views possessed throughout society present ways in which it can be understood and how it may operate and be justified in certain situations. These definitions provide a platform that enables an insight into whether inequality in health could in some cases, be justified under a certain rationale."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Barry S. Levy, Victor W. Sidel, 2006, "Injustice and public health" Edition: illustrated Published by Oxford University Press US
• Dworkin, R., 1981, "What is Equality? Part 2: Equality of resources", Philosophy andPublic Affairs 10: 185-246.
• Equality Standford encyclopedia of Philosophy First published Tue Mar 27, 2001; substantive revision Wed Jun 27, 2007
• Frankfurt, Harry, 1987, "Equality as a Moral Ideal," Ethics 98, pp. 21-42, reprinted in Dann, Otto, 1975, "Gleichheit", in: Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe, ed. by V. O. Brunner, W. Conze, R. Koselleck, Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta 1975, pp. 995-1046.
• Gianfranco Poggi, 1972, "Essays on the sociological theories of Tocqueville, Marx, and Durkheim" Published by Stanford University Press, 267 pages

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