Why "access" matters


Author: Eric Goedereis, Ph.D.

 As professor for the course, I should start by telling you a bit about myself. I am currently an Associate Professor of Psychology at Webster University in Saint Louis, Missouri. I earned my PhD in Lifespan Developmental Psychology from West Virginia University. My research has typically focused on health beliefs and behaviors across the lifespan. I really enjoy teaching and mentoring students. If you’re interested, you can learn more about my approach to teaching and research via our university’s Faculty Voices series.

As my career has evolved, I have had the opportunity to teach a number of courses. Thanks to Webster University’s unique network of global campuses and the support of some fantastic initiatives like the Leif J. Sverdrup Global Teaching Fellowship (via the Faculty Mobility Program), I have been fortunate to teach abroad, first at Webster’s campus in Vienna, Austria and now in Athens, Greece.

Webster has afforded me the autonomy and support to dig into things that I care about. As a developmental psychologist interested in health, one of the most obvious topics that has caught my eye involves “access”. Understanding access is important; for better or worse, access has the potential to alter our developmental trajectories. For example, numerous studies highlight the benefits of access to early childhood education on later developmental outcomes.

Access also matters for health and wellness. Think about the types of food you eat or the availability of easily accessible recreational opportunities. Again, research has shown the impact of access, this time in the form of what it means to lack access to healthy foods and green spaces being associated with a greater likelihood of being overweight or obese.

For me, the more I taught my developmental and health-related courses, the more I became interested in “access”. I worked to incorporate it into my courses and in so doing, I really grew to appreciate the impact of inequality, both on the individual as well as on society.

Though I have become fascinated by the topic, I do not claim to be a scholar of inequality. That said, I do understand how to evaluate research and can appreciate when high-quality, socially-important research comes to light.

Epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson has a powerful TEDTalk summarizing the groundbreaking work he conducted with his colleague, Kate Pickett. As summarized in the figure below, their important work demonstrates how societies as a whole are worse-off as levels of inequality within them grow (Wilkinson & Pickett, 2009).
As Wilkinson and Pickett’s (2009) work shows, inequality does not only affect the individual; our larger social systems are also affected by inequality. Living in Saint Louis, Missouri, I seemingly have a front row seat to many of the consequences of systemic inequality. For example, as demonstrated in a compelling report, psychologist Jason Purnell’s For the Sake of All project has shown that, in addition to other negative outcomes, unequal access to numerous community resources is associated with in disparities individuals’ experiences of poverty, educational attainment, and even life expectancy. Perhaps more startling is the way these disparities track with racial polarization of various neighborhoods within Saint Louis.

Source: http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/report-racial-health-disparities-affect-everyone-st-louis-not-just-african-americans#stream/0





Source: https://forthesakeofall.org/learn-more/publications/#report/1


As psychologist Keith Payne (2017) asks in his provocative book TheBroken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live and Die:
Why, for example, does feeling poor subtract as many years from your life as actually being poor? Why does the size of your neighbor’s house affect your stress hormones? Why does financial insecurity lead us to make self-defeating decisions that only lead to more insecurity? Why does your financial success lead you to regard those who disagree with you as idiots and morons rather than simply as people with a different opinion? (p. 9)

Again, the purpose of this blog is not to re-hash the literature on human development, health, or inequality. Numerous other, well-developed resources for examining such topics already exist. Instead, what I hope to do with this blog is provide students a space to share their experiences as we study this important topic. My students and I will explore the existing literature on the psychology of inequality. In doing so, we will consider questions such as those raised by Wilkinson and Pickett, Purnell, Payne, and other scholars whose work has helped us better understand the causes and consequences of inequality.

Taken together, the data on the negative consequences of inequality are compelling. Access matters for individuals, but access also matters at the group- and societal-levels. When unequal access within society is obvious, its citizens are worse off on average, societies experience more "problems", and, to quote Keith Payne (2017) again, "everyone starts acting strange" (p.3). 

 Why and how they "act strange" will be the subject of much of our course. I look forward to hearing from our students as we explore this topic together. 


Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 27, 2018 at 5:54 AM

    Such an important topic that so many people don't understand or even think about. Well done Eric, good for you! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Reese MooreJuly 27, 2018 at 7:54 AM

    In St. Louis the inequalities are often so great you can physically see the disparities between neighborhoods change in a matter of seconds. For example, the Delmar Divide describes the well known segregation between socioeconomic status and race on Delmar Blvd. On one side, you can see nice houses, stores and good living conditions, but if you go a bit farther down the road you will come across drastic differences (i.e. run down homes, fast food restaurants, etc).

    ReplyDelete

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