Paper details:
Plan for Essay: Explain the impact of social inequalities on the prevalence of mental ill-health with reference to social class.
Resources: Use the power points shown in class, the handouts, worksheets, posters, and your notes to write this assignment. For the higher grades, you need to be looking at sociology textbooks as well. For further depth of knowledge and understanding, look at the articles on the Mental Health Studies site.
Introduction This should be about a paragraph in length – between 100 and 150 words. This should include a summary of the issues the essay will cover including any key concepts. There should also be a definition of health inequality and a brief explanation that people in lower social classes suffer worse mental health than those in higher social classes.
Section 1. This will be between about 450 and 550 words.
Explain the impact of social inequalities on the prevalence of mental ill-health with reference to social class.
Define the term “health inequality” (1.1). Explain what is meant by social class and explain about determinants of health. Explain that determinants differ according to social class (e.g. people in higher social classes have more money and better access to private treatment). Include research and data (e.g. percentages) to show how social class and mental health and ill-health are linked. To get the higher grades, you need use some explanation of why there is a link between social class and mental health or ill-health (e.g. social drift, or social selection). The sorts of things you need to cover are poverty and mental ill-health; psychosis and poverty; suicide and substance misuse – all the information you have summarised over the last few weeks.
Section 2.: This will be between about 150 and 250 words.
Define the concept of deviant behaviour (2.1); explain how deviancy amplification occur (2.2) and analyse the reasons for deviancy amplification for people with mental ill health (2.3).
Define the concept of deviant behaviour, preferably using a quotation or other source e.g. from a sociology textbook, explain how deviancy amplification can occur {use examples from a sociology textbook for higher grades, and maybe also including the concept of moral panics). Explain Why deviancy amplification occurs for people with mental ill-health (e.g. because we know very little about mental ill-health because people don’t talk about it, then we do not challenge stories we hear in the media).
Section 3: This will be between about 150 and 200 words
Analyse the relationship between discrimination and mental ill-health (1.2)
You need to explain what is meant by prejudice and discrimination. Explain different types discrimination. And use data research (e.g. articles from The Guardian) to show how people with mental ill-health suffer from discrimination
Section 4: This will be between about 150 and 200 words
Analyse the approaches that agencies can take to address discrimination towards people with mental ill-health (1,2)
You need to explain what legislation has been passed to make it illegal to discriminate against people with mental ill-health (e.g., the Equality Act). Also, it is a good idea to talk about celebrities speaking out about their own issues and organisations such as Heads Together, Mind, Sane and so forth which encourage people to talk about mental ill-health and break down the stigma and secrecy that surround it.
For the higher grades you need to assess whether these approaches are effective. You can use data from attitude survey (e.g. use the website Time to Change) to see if there are changes in attitudes over the years.
Conclusion: This will be between about 100 and 150 words
Summarise what you have covered in your essay and draw a conclusion about what you have shown about inequalities in mental and whether initiatives taken by various agencies might improve this situation.
