Introduction

This chapter studies health inequalities from a generational perspective but also aims to adopt a life course perspective. The interest in generations lies with the fact that birth cohorts encounter specific historical conditions and circumstances, situations that deviate from those of both earlier and later generations. ‘Children of the great depression’ is but one famous example in the literature (Elder, 1974). The life course approach further emphasises the dimension of time from the individual's perspective by, for example, focusing on the long-term consequences of specific historical conditions encountered earlier in life.

No one can deny that the historical and social circumstances that we encounter when new born or in youth have an immediate impact on our lives. At the same time it seems likely that both short- and long-term consequences have a socioeconomic dimension. For example, although the immediate problem of trying to get into the labour market during a recession is obvious, it seems plausible that there are also substantial class deviations both with regard to difficulties in finding a job and perhaps also how well you are able to cope without one. In epidemiological terms it could be said that both the exposures to circumstances, such as unemployment, and vulnerability, or susceptibility, in terms of how exposure in turn increases the risk of ill health, are likely to vary depending on your class background. The focus of attention in this chapter is class inequalities in health as formed by the close relation to age and generation.

Discussions about generational inequalities seldom address the interrelation between class and generation. In life course approaches to human development there is, of course, a long tradition of distinguishing attitudes and behaviour within working-class and middle-class families (see, for example, Moen et al, 1995), but there is less focus on how class differentials in certain outcomes vary between generations. This chapter specifically tries to grasp how class divisions in health have changed across generations. While class differentials can be studied from several angles, a fundamental distinction is between class of origin and class of destination. From a perspective of generational belonging it seems natural to focus in particular on class of origin.