Understanding Health Inequalities turns the spotlight on a question at the heart of health and welfare policy. Why is there a social class gradient in health? How do socio-economic inequalities in life chances and living conditions take their toll on health? The book tackles the questions of why and how by drawing on UK research funded under the ESRC's Health Variations Programme. The authors - at the forefront of research in their field - focus on issues which hold the key to explaining and reducing health inequalities. Separate sections of the book focus on:

* ethnicity, gender and socio-economic status
* how health is shaped by experiences and exposures over the lifecourse
* how our home and neighbourhood may have an additional influence on our health.

A fourth theme - that of policy development and policy impact - runs through these sections and is explicitly addressed in the concluding chapter. Written with the student and practitioner in mind, Understanding Health Inequalities is designed to make cutting-edge research on health inequalities accessible to both the academic and policy communities.