Abstract
Inequalities in health, a phenomenon as old as it is universal, represent a major challenge for social justice. Health statistics attest to their scale in every country in the world. Numerous studies, most of them in the field of social epidemiology, have identified a number of social determinants of health status, such as level of education, occupation, income and place of residence. Sociological analysis of the social production of health inequalities offers a complementary perspective. First of all, it considers that these inequalities are one of the most striking manifestations of the inscription of social structures on bodies, and that it is therefore important to understand the main social relations of power, which refer in particular to gender, class and ethno-racial positions, that shape social practices. It also invites us not to apprehend the biological in isolation from the social, but to consider the complex interaction between these two dimensions. Finally, it calls for the analysis of health practices within life trajectories, from birth to death, in interaction with the conditions of access to and management by healthcare systems.
