Skip Navigation



Social History of Medicine Advance Access published online on October 24, 2006
Social History of Medicine, doi:10.1093/shm/hkl048
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (Rapid PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
19/3/381    most recent
hkl048v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Razzell, P.
Right arrow Articles by Spence, C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on the behalf of the Society for the Social History of Medicine. All rights reserved

Article

The Hazards of Wealth: Adult Mortality in Pre-Twentieth-Century England

Peter Razzell 1 * and Christine Spence 1 *

1 Essex University, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Peter Razzell, E-mail: peter.razzell{at}clara.net
Christine Spence, E-mail: cspence8{at}hotmail.com


  Abstract

English historical evidence suggests that before the twentieth century, adult mortality may have been as high among the wealthy as it was among the poor. Provisional data for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries indicate that in many areas, the aristocracy, gentry, merchants and professionals died in as great a number as labourers and poor husbandmen. Given the known association between poverty and ill-health, this finding represents something of a conundrum. A review of literary evidence suggests that the ownership of wealth carried its own risks. Medical authorities and other writers described in detail the hazards of wealth: the excessive consumption of food, alcohol and tobacco, linked to physical inactivity and other lifestyle factors. This paper suggests that the correlation between socio-economic status and adult mortality only emerged at the end of the nineteenth century, although this conclusion will require confirmation through further research on a systematic and nationally representative sample.

Keywords: wealth; poverty; mortality; lifestyle; alcohol; nutrition; tobacco; physical inactivity; obesity.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Soc Hist MedHome page
R. Woods
Medical and Demographic History: Inseparable?
Soc Hist Med, December 1, 2007; 20(3): 483 - 503.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.