The aim of this essay is to examine the notion that many aspects of an individual’s environment can affect his/her health. To do this I (avoid using the personal pronoun “I”) will look at both the physical and social aspects of a person’s environment (the students were asked to consider both the physical and social environment – students who covered only one of these got a low mark) . I will attempt to make clear the links between these elements and will consider how they impact on health.

There are numerous factors influencing health, such as age, race, gender to name a few. However, for the purpose of this essay I intend to concentrate on a number of other elements also thought to be key factors influencing health; social class, employment, income, housing and place of residence. (This has set the scene well showing that the student knows that many factors can affect health but then tells us which ones she will concentrate on).

Social Class

Table 1 Social class classification

Higher managerial and professional
e.g. company directors, bank managers, senior civil servant
e.g. doctors, barristers and solicitors, teachers, social workers
Lower managerial and professional e.g. nurses, actors and musicians, police, soldiers
Intermediate
e.g. secretaries, clerks
Small employers and own account workers e.g. publicans, playgroup leaders, farmers, taxi drivers
Lower supervisory, craft and related occupations e.g. printers, plumbers, butchers, train drivers
Semi-routine occupations e.g. shop assistants, traffic wardens, hairdressers
Routine occupations e.g. waiters, road sweepers, cleaners, couriers
Never worked and long term unemployed .
The source of this information should be given under the Table

In an attempt to identify the main determinants of health and illness, research studies have often