Elsevier

Health & Place

Volume 29, September 2014, Pages 154-160
Health & Place

Considering daily mobility for a more comprehensive understanding of contextual effects on social inequalities in health: A conceptual proposal

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.07.007Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We conceptualise the links between daily mobility, context, and health inequalities.

  • Contextual influences on health inequalities are anchored in mobility potential.

  • Mobility potential can be converted into realized (im)mobility via individual agency.

  • Inequalities in mobility potential and agency give rise to inequalities in realized (im)mobility.

  • Various pathways link inequalities in exposure experienced via (im)mobility and inequalities in health.

Abstract

Despite growing interest in integrating people׳s daily mobility into contextual studies of social inequalities in health, the links between daily mobility and health inequalities remain inadequately conceptualised. This conceptual proposal anchors the relationship between daily mobility and contextual influences on social inequalities in health into the concept of mobility potential, which encompasses the opportunities and places individuals can choose (or are constrained) to access. Mobility potential is realized as actual mobility through agency. Being shaped by socially-patterned personal and geographic characteristics, mobility potential is unequally distributed across social groups. Social inequalities in realized mobility may thus result. We discuss pathways by which these may contribute to contextual influences on social inequalities in health. One pathway is reflected in disadvantaged groups encountering more fast-food outlets during their daily activities, which may relate to their higher risk of unhealthy eating. This proposal lays the bases for empirical research explicitly testing hypotheses regarding the contribution of daily mobility to social inequalities in health.

Section snippets

Background

In recent years, there have been calls to consider individuals׳ agency in contextual studies of social inequalities in health (Entwisle, 2007), and to take into account the interplay between individuals and their environment (Frohlich et al., 2001, Cummins et al., 2007, Kwan, 2009). A suggested response has been to integrate people׳s daily mobility across space when defining context or the spatial area(s) within which health-relevant resources and features are measured (Cummins et al., 2007,

Objective

Drawing from literature in geography, urban studies, public health, and sociology, this paper seeks to provide elements of response to the above limitations. It introduces a conceptual proposal which anchors the links between daily mobility and contextual influences on social inequalities in health into the concept of mobility potential. Mobility potential is defined as the capacity to be mobile and a resource that is unequally distributed across social groups (Kaufmann et al., 2004). We argue

Daily mobility potential: an unequally distributed resource

We conceptualise daily mobility as a behaviour embedded within a social context (Kaufmann, 2011, Camarero and Oliva, 2008) which involves social norms (including aspects of interpersonal relationships), social structures (e.g. class, race, gender), as well as institutional practices (Poland et al., 2006). The concept of “mobility potential” which, following Kaufmann et al. (2004), is the “capacity to move in geographic and social space” (p. 750), is central to this perspective. Indeed, it has

Discussion

Drawing from conceptual and empirical work conducted in various fields, we developed a conceptual proposal linking daily mobility with contextual influences on social inequalities in health. Given the increasing interest in integrating mobility in the social sciences in the past 15 years (Sheller and Urry, 2006) (and more recently in public health (Kwan, 2009)), and given the long-standing mandate of public health to reduce social inequalities through action on local environments (Diez Roux and

Conclusion

Public health is perpetually focused on reducing health inequalities by acting on people׳s daily lives and on the places where they live, work, study, and play (Organisation Mondiale De La Santé, 2008). This paper offers a timely contribution, pressing for more conceptually-rooted research and action, focused on context and social inequalities in health. The conceptual proposal made here allows the direct study of mobility potential and the factors enabling or constraining it, a first step

Funding

MS is a recipient of a Doctoral Research Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada. KF holds a CIHR New Investigator Award. YK is a recipient of a young investigator award from Fonds de Recherche du Québec en Santé.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Julie Vallée and Stephanie Alexander for commenting on an earlier version of this paper, as well as Deena Aziz for editing the manuscript.

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