The Fundamental Cause Theory of Health Inequalities: An Overview & Application

Bruce Link, PhD is the Distinguished Professor of Public Policy & Sociology at University of California Riverside, as well as the Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology & Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University. Fundamental cause theory seeks to explain why distributions of disease and death are so consistently mal-distributed across racial and socioeconomic hierarchies. Even as risk and protective factors change, even as the diseases afflicting humans vary, some “causes” consistently re-emerge. We call these causes “fundamental” causes and identify class inequality, racism, and stigmatization as such fundamental causes. The talk reviews this theory, take stock of evidence bearing on the theory and attend to current circumstances in which some of its principles are reflected. We will explore whether the theory applies to the spread of COVID and whether it can have any bearing on why explanations for health disparities so commonly focus on the characteristics of those downwardly located in racial and socioeconomic hierarchies and much less commonly on the behavior of those who oppress them. Webinar was recorded on January 28, 2022. This webinar is brought to you by the UCLA Center for Social Medicine and Humanities. Co-sponsored by the Research Theme in Health Equity & Translational Social Science (HETSS) and the Rangell Social Medicine Grand Rounds Series. For more info, visit https://medschool.ucla.edu/hetss.