Critical Perspectives on Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life

Critical Perspectives on Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2004-10-16

Total Pages: 753

ISBN-13: 0309092116

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In their later years, Americans of different racial and ethnic backgrounds are not in equally good-or equally poor-health. There is wide variation, but on average older Whites are healthier than older Blacks and tend to outlive them. But Whites tend to be in poorer health than Hispanics and Asian Americans. This volume documents the differentials and considers possible explanations. Selection processes play a role: selective migration, for instance, or selective survival to advanced ages. Health differentials originate early in life, possibly even before birth, and are affected by events and experiences throughout the life course. Differences in socioeconomic status, risk behavior, social relations, and health care all play a role. Separate chapters consider the contribution of such factors and the biopsychosocial mechanisms that link them to health. This volume provides the empirical evidence for the research agenda provided in the separate report of the Panel on Race, Ethnicity, and Health in Later Life.


Demography of Indonesia's Ethnicity

Demography of Indonesia's Ethnicity

Author: Aris Ananta

Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

Published: 2015-07-14

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 9814519871

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Indonesia, the largest country in Southeast Asia, has as its national motto “Unity in Diversity.” In 2010, Indonesia stood as the world’s fourth most populous country after China, India and the United States, with 237.6 million people. This archipelagic country contributed 3.5 per cent to the world’s population in the same year. The country’s demographic and political transitions have resulted in an emerging need to better understand the ethnic composition of Indonesia. This book aims to contribute to that need. It is a demographic study on ethnicity, mostly relying on the tabulation provided by the BPS (Badan Pusat Statistik; Statistics-Indonesia) based on the complete data set of the 2010 population census. The information on ethnicity was collected for 236,728,379 individuals, a huge data set. The book has four objectives: To produce a new comprehensive classification of ethnic groups to better capture the rich diversity of ethnicity in Indonesia; to report on the ethnic composition in Indonesia and in each of the thirty three provinces using the new classification; to evaluate the dynamics of the fifteen largest ethnic groups in Indonesia during 2000–2010; and to examine the religions and languages of each of the fifteen largest ethnic groups.


Ethnic Groups and Boundaries

Ethnic Groups and Boundaries

Author: Fredrik Barth

Publisher: Waveland Press

Published: 1998-03-11

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 1478607955

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When originally published in Norway, Ethnic Groups and Boundaries marked the transition to a new era of ethnic studies. Today this much-cited classic is regarded as the seminal volume from which stems much current anthropological thinking about ethnicity. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries opens with Barths invaluable thirty-page essay that introduces students to important theoretical issues in the analysis of ethnic groups. Following is a collection of seven essaysthe results of a symposium involving a small group of Scandinavian social anthropologistsintended to illustrate the application of Barths analytical viewpoints to different sides of the problems of polyethnic organization in various ethnographic areas, including Norway, Sudan, Ethiopia, Mexico, Afghanistan, and Laos.


Communities in Action

Communities in Action

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-04-27

Total Pages: 583

ISBN-13: 0309452961

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In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.


Eliminating Health Disparities

Eliminating Health Disparities

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2004-08-09

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 0309166136

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Disparities in health and health care across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds in the United States are well documented. The reasons for these disparities are, however, not well understood. Current data available on race, ethnicity, SEP, and accumulation and language use are severely limited. The report examines data collection and reporting systems relating to the collection of data on race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic position and offers recommendations.


In the Nation's Compelling Interest

In the Nation's Compelling Interest

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2004-06-29

Total Pages: 429

ISBN-13: 0309166616

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The United States is rapidly transforming into one of the most racially and ethnically diverse nations in the world. Groups commonly referred to as minorities-including Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, and Alaska Natives-are the fastest growing segments of the population and emerging as the nation's majority. Despite the rapid growth of racial and ethnic minority groups, their representation among the nation's health professionals has grown only modestly in the past 25 years. This alarming disparity has prompted the recent creation of initiatives to increase diversity in health professions. In the Nation's Compelling Interest considers the benefits of greater racial and ethnic diversity, and identifies institutional and policy-level mechanisms to garner broad support among health professions leaders, community members, and other key stakeholders to implement these strategies. Assessing the potential benefits of greater racial and ethnic diversity among health professionals will improve the access to and quality of healthcare for all Americans.


The Psychology of Ethnic Groups in the United States

The Psychology of Ethnic Groups in the United States

Author: Pamela Balls Organista

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 425

ISBN-13: 1412915406

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Providing students with a readable, basic text on fundamental issues and methods that distinguish the field of ethnic psychology within mainstream psychology, the authors overview the field of ethnic psychology with emphasis on the experiences of African American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Hispanic/Latino, and multiethnic individuals.


Ethnicity Without Groups

Ethnicity Without Groups

Author: Rogers Brubaker

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2006-09-01

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 0674022319

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"Despite a quarter-century of constructivist theorizing in the social sciences and humanities, ethnic groups continue to be conceived as entities and cast as actors. Journalists, policymakers, and researchers routinely frame accounts of ethnic, racial, and national conflict as the struggles of internally homogeneous, externally bounded ethnic groups, races, and nations. In doing so, they unwittingly adopt the language of participants in such struggles, and contribute to the reification of ethnic groups. In this timely and provocative volume, Rogers BrubakerÑwell known for his work on immigration, citizenship, and nationalismÑchallenges this pervasive and commonsense Ògroupism.Ó But he does not simply revert to standard constructivist tropes about the fluidity and multiplicity of identity. Once a bracing challenge to conventional wisdom, constructivism has grown complacent, even cliched. That ethnicity is constructed is commonplace; this volume provides new insights into how it is constructed. By shifting the analytical focus from identity to identifications, from groups as entities to group-making projects, from shared culture to categorization, from substance to process, Brubaker shows that ethnicity, race, and nation are not things in the world but perspectives on the world: ways of seeing, interpreting, and representing the social world."


Social Statistics and Ethnic Diversity

Social Statistics and Ethnic Diversity

Author: Patrick Simon

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-08-17

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 331920095X

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This open access book examines the question of collecting and disseminating data on ethnicity and race in order to describe characteristics of ethnic and racial groups, identify factors of social and economic integration and implement policies to redress discrimination. It offers a global perspective on the issue by looking at race and ethnicity in a wide variety of historical, country-specific contexts, including Asia, Latin America, Europe, Oceania and North America. In addition, the book also includes analysis on the indigenous populations of the Americas. The book first offers comparative accounts of ethnic statistics. It compares and empirically tests two perspectives for understanding national ethnic enumeration practices in a global context based on national census questionnaires and population registration forms for over 200 countries between 1990 to 2006. Next, the book explores enumeration and identity politics with chapters that cover the debate on ethnic and racial statistics in France, ethnic and linguistic categories in Québec, Brazilian ethnoracial classification and affirmative action policies and the Hispanic/Latino identity and the United States census. The third, and final, part of the book examines measurement issues and competing claims. It explores such issues as the complexity of measuring diversity using Malaysia as an example, social inequalities and indigenous populations in Mexico and the demographic explosion of aboriginal populations in Canada from 1986 to 2006. Overall, the book sheds light on four main questions: should ethnic groups be counted, how should they be counted, who is and who is not counted and what are the political and economic incentives for counting. It will be of interest to all students of race, ethnicity, identity, and immigration. In addition, researchers as well as policymakers will find useful discussions and insights for a better understanding of the complexity of categorization and related political and policy challenges.


Understanding Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life

Understanding Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2004-09-08

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 0309165865

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As the population of older Americans grows, it is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Differences in health by racial and ethnic status could be increasingly consequential for health policy and programs. Such differences are not simply a matter of education or ability to pay for health care. For instance, Asian Americans and Hispanics appear to be in better health, on a number of indicators, than White Americans, despite, on average, lower socioeconomic status. The reasons are complex, including possible roles for such factors as selective migration, risk behaviors, exposure to various stressors, patient attitudes, and geographic variation in health care. This volume, produced by a multidisciplinary panel, considers such possible explanations for racial and ethnic health differentials within an integrated framework. It provides a concise summary of available research and lays out a research agenda to address the many uncertainties in current knowledge. It recommends, for instance, looking at health differentials across the life course and deciphering the links between factors presumably producing differentials and biopsychosocial mechanisms that lead to impaired health.