The issue of social class is one
that is exceptionally important but criminally overlooked by today’s health
community, and indeed the public at large.
There is a very definite class-divide when it comes to tobacco users, with
most cigarette smokers tending to come from the lower classes, and pipe and
cigar smokers tending to be from the upper classes. It is no secret, of course, that those from
the lower classes have less money, more physical and often more dangerous jobs
(such as factory work or working with chemicals), worse lifestyles and diets
than those in the upper classes, and tend to have poorer healthcare. On the other hand, those in the upper classes
lead more relaxed lives, eat better food and have healthier lifestyles. Statistically, then, showing that cigarette
smokers contract lung cancer more than non-smokers really shows that people
from lower social classes are more likely to get lung cancer. Actually, people with a lower socio-economic
status are more likely to die younger anyway, lung cancer or not. This is something the anti-smokers overlook,
deliberately or not I do not know, but the fact is the issue of class and
illness is often neglected, which is jumping the gun somewhat.
In their book The
Health Trap Richard Dorsett and Alan Marsh look at smoking and poverty, and
we are told on the back of the book that:
Smoking has become more and more
concentrated among Britain’s poorest families…The poorest group – Britain’s 1.7
million lone parent families – smoke most…Among the large group of lone parents
who rely on council housing and social security benefits, more than
three-quarters smoke…Lone parents who smoke pay nearly £300 million a year back
to the Treasury.
This is just a chapter sample. The full chapter is not available online