This interactive activity helps students investigate the unequal distribution of health chances by social class by working through a fictional case file and linking each piece of evidence to a sociological explanation. It covers the main models used in this topic, including the behavioural model, materialist model, psychosocial model, life-course model and artifact explanations, while also bringing in key ideas such as the impacts of poverty, employment and cumulative disadvantage across the life course.
The activity also introduces students to some of the best-known evidence used in this area, including the Black Report, Acheson Report, Marmot Review, Whitehall II Study and official evidence from the Office for National Statistics. As students complete the task, they classify evidence cards, check their answers, and then build a short evaluative judgement about which explanation is strongest and why social class inequalities in health remain persistent.
Health Chances Case File
Work through the case file and decide which explanation best fits each piece of evidence. Then build a short judgement about why social class inequalities in health persist.
Case file: Darren is 49 and works in a low-paid warehouse job with shift work, little control over his tasks and frequent overtime. He lives in rented housing with damp and mould, and his area has heavy traffic, few green spaces and limited cheap fresh food. Darren smokes, says he often eats quickly between shifts, and feels too tired to exercise regularly.
He grew up in a household with long periods of unemployment, left school with few qualifications and has moved through insecure jobs ever since. He says money worries are constant and that he feels judged when he attends health appointments. His manager closely monitors targets, while better-paid staff have more autonomy and flexibility.
This activity asks you to decide whether the strongest explanation is behavioural, materialist, psychosocial, life-course, or whether some of the pattern may be explained by artifact arguments.
Step 2: Build a judgement
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