Doing (and undoing) privilege: how public policy drives health inequities

Ashley Schram has been leading a body of work examining the ways in which public policy contributes to the doing (reproduction) or undoing (disruption) of privilege.

Privilege is not simply the outcome of individual advantage, but an emergent property of the social system, produced through the interaction of structural arrangements, institutional practices, and relational dynamics. It directly and indirectly shapes physical and mental health by structuring access to material resources, exposure to risks and protections, and the distribution of voice and influence in collective decision-making. Crucially, privilege accumulates and compounds across time, embedding itself in intergenerational cycles of opportunity and disadvantage.

In this webinar, Ashley will discuss these issues and the role of public policy as a necessary part of addressing social and health inequity.

Get a head start on these concepts by reading these papers from the team:

Doing (and undoing) privilege: evaluating how public policy drives health inequities.

Monitoring privilege for health equity: building consensus on indicators to monitor socioeconomic advantage through a modified Delphi survey.

The ‘Saving the World’ webinar series, presented by the Planetary Health Equity Hothouse, releases a new episode each month, discussing the intersections between climate change, inequity and human health. The webinars focus on actions that enable transformative change away from the harmful consumptogenic system to systems that promote good health, social equity and environmental wellbeing.