Ethnicity and Race Flashcards
Define ‘culture’
Sets of beliefs and ideas that a defined social group draws upon in order to identify and manage the practical problems of their everyday lives
An array of shared implicit mental precepts regulating understanding and behaviour
Define ‘ethnicity’
Generally relates to some form of distinctive set of cultural characteristics, including: common geographical and ancestral origins, language and cultural traditions
Often other shared characteristics such as nationality, migrant status, religion and ‘race’ are used as substitutes for ethnicity
Define ‘epidemiology’
Study of patterns of disease and the factors that influence the emergence, propagation and frequency of disease in a population
Employs the methodology of comparing differential “exposure variables” within a population to known causative factors for disease
List exposure variables
Gender Age Occupation Socio-economic class Health behaviour Ethnicity
What is the function of ethnic monitoring systems?
Enables organisations such as the NHS to achieve an equitable provision of services
Why do problems arise when attempting to use “ethnicity” as a measurable population category?
Ethnicity is a social construct, not a scientific construct
What is a social construct?
The understanding that everyday knowledge is creatively produced by individuals and is directed towards practical problems
We to come to know the world through the ideas and beliefs we hold about it, so that it is our concepts and categories that are the realities of the world
Define ethnic group
Based on an individual conception of social group membership and personal identity
Define ethnic origin
An allocated definition based on common ancestry or place of origin
How can reifying ethnicity result in artefactual data?
Reify = making an abstract concept concrete/real
Categories such as Other Asian’ or Other Mixed Background’, are purely artefactual and have no meaning outside the world of health needs planning
Why are ethnic boundaries fluid and not fixed?
Ethnic and cultural boundaries are constructed and maintained by social groups themselves, and so do change over time
Define ‘race’
A social construct with no distinct genetic or biological bias
Not a biological category, but does exist in the context of long tradition of placing people in social categories
List diseases which always include (or exclude) all members of any one ethnic group
There are none
Define ‘institutionalised racism’
The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin
It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people
How can cultural awareness be useful in clinical practice?
Allows HCPs to be sensitive to cultural differences & complexities/dynamics of ethnicity
Knowledge can provide HCPs with essential information about a patient’s health beliefs and practices:
- E.g. easier to talk to patient about diet changes if doctor knows avoidance of particular food is cultural/religious) - Some religions do not consider use of blood products, but we should not assume this
Can serve to challenge stereotypes that occur during clinical assessment of a patient, while remaining sensitive to cultural differences
Ethnic minorities often fall outside the constructed norms of patient behavior - it is important as clinicians that we do not reinforce this constructed norm
