Inequalities in health and healthcare

Noortje van Amsterdam: (Un)healthy Work Realities? Affective Flows and Material Becomings in Pandemic Times

In her presentation, Noortje van Amsterdam will focus on formulating a research agenda that aims to explore how the pandemic differentially impacts everyday working lives. She will argue the need to look at how inequalities are produced through both current material realities at work (such as hygiene measures and the increased use of digital technology), as well as contemporary affective circulations around health (such as fear of the virus and anger at those who purportedly spread it). This could help us understand how lines between workers are redrawn or reinforced through changing ideas and practices related to ‘healthy bodies’, ‘healthy work behavior’ and ‘healthy work circumstances’. Noortje will use some preliminary findings from a research project on the experiences of self-identified fat female workers to illustrate the relevance of this approach and conclude with a few notes on methodology.

Erna Ruijer and Jelena Arsenijevic: Access to Healthcare in the Netherlands

Erna Ruijer and Jelena Arsenijevic presentation focuses on inequalities in healthcare. Together they examine how inequity in access to healthcare became a nervous area in the Netherlands, showing how the recent reform in the Dutch healthcare system affected the use of healthcare services among socially disadvantaged groups in the Netherlands. In addition, they analyze how a local government attempts to reverse healthcare inequities and demonstrate that nervousness might not only arise from an enduring history of inequality but may also arise from more recent societal developments leading to inequity, which are at odds with historical deeply engrained societal values of solidarity and justice. They also show that more data collection is needed to be able to observe possible hidden inequity.