Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T03:20:48.744Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cigarette Smoking: A Light on Gender and Class Inequality in Britain?*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2009

Hilary Graham
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The decline in smoking prevalence in Britain has been associated with a narrowing of gender differences and a widening of class differences in cigarette smoking. The shrinking population of smokers is increasingly drawn from those occupying subordinate positions in the gender and class hierarchies. The article reviews the evidence linking social inequality and women's smoking, drawing on conventional measures of gender and socio-economic position and on alternative measures which tap more directly into the processes that sustain gender and class inequality. The article deepens its analysis of the links between social inequality and smoking behaviour through a survey of women caring for young children in manual households. The survey uncovered pronounced intra-group differences in the smoking behaviour of women occupying broadly similar gender and socio-economic positions. These differences were associated, in clear and systematic ways, with differences in the mothers' social and material circumstances. High rates of prevalence and consumption and low rates of cessation were related to heavier caring responsibilities and to greater material disadvantage.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , October 1995 , pp. 509 - 527
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ahmad, W. I. U., Kernohan, E. E. M. and Baker, M. R. (1988), ‘Alcohol and cigarette consumption among white and Asian general practice patients’, Health Education Journal, 47: 4, 128–9.Google Scholar
Ben-Shlomo, Y., Sheiham, A. and Marmot, M. (1991). ‘smoking and health’, in Jowel, R., Brook, L. and Taylor, B. (eds.) British Social Attitudes: the 8th Report, Dartmouth, Aldershot.Google Scholar
Berthoud, R. and Kempson, E. (1992), Credit and Debt: The PSI.Report, Policy Studies Institute, London.Google Scholar
Bhopal, B. S. (1986), ‘Asians’ knowledge and behaviour on preventive health issues: smoking, alcohol, heart disease, pregnancy, rickets, malaria prophylaxis and surma’. Community Medicine, 8: 315–21.Google ScholarPubMed
Blaxter, M. (1990). Health and Lifestyles, Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Burghes, L. (1993). One-parent Families: Policy Options for the 1990s. Family Policy Studies Centre/Joseph Rowntree Foundation. York.Google Scholar
Butler, N. and Golding, J. (1986). From Birth to Five, Pergamon Press, London.Google Scholar
Chollat-Traquet, C. (1992), Women and Tobacco, WHO, Geneva.Google Scholar
Cox, B. D., Huppert, F. A. and Whichelow, M. J. (1993). The Health and Lifestyle Survey: Seven Years On, Dartmouth, Aldershot, Hants.Google Scholar
Daykin, N. (1993), ‘Young women and smoking: towards a sociological account’. Health Promotion International, 8: 2, 95–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Social Security (1993a). Social Security Statistics 1993, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Department of Social Security (1993b), Households Below Average Income: A Statistical Analysis 1979–1990/1. HMSO. London.Google Scholar
Fidler, W., Michell, M., Raab, G. and Charlton, A. (1992), ‘smoking: a.special need?’. British Journal of Addiction. 87: 1583–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graham, H. (1976). ‘smoking in pregnancy: the attitudes of expectant mothers’, Social Science and Medicine, 10: 399–405.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graham, H. (1987), ‘Women's smoking and family health’. Social Science and Medicine, 25: 1, 47–56.Google Scholar
Graham, H. (1988), ‘Women and smoking in the United Kingdom: the implications for health promotion’. Health Promotion, 3: 4, 371–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, H. (1993). When Life's A Drag: Women, Smoking and Disadvantage, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Graham, H. (1994). ‘Gender and class as dimensions of smoking behaviour in Britain: insights from a survey of mothers’. Social Science and Medicine, 38: 5, 691–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graham, H. and Hunt, S. (1994). ‘Women's smoking and measures of women's socio-economic status in the United Kingdom’. Health Promotion International, 9: 2, 81–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, G., Maclntyre, S., West, P. and Ecob, R. (1990). ‘Do children of lone mothers smoke more because their mothers do?’ British Journal of Addiction, 85: 1497–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatziandreu, E. J., Pierce, J. P., Fiore, M. C., Grise, V., Novotny, T. E. and Davis, R. M. (1989). ‘The reliability of self-reported cigarette consumption in the United States’, American Journal of Public Health. 79: 8, 1020–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jackson, R. and Benglehole, R. (1985). ‘secular trends In under reporting of cigarette consumption’. American Journal of Epidemiology. 122: 341–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, B. (1986). Beating the Ladykillers. Pluto Press. London.Google Scholar
Jarvis, M. (1984). ‘Gender and smoking: do women really find it harder to give up? British Journal of Addiction. 83: 323–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarvis, M. and Johnson, P. (1988), ‘Cigar and pipe smoking in Britain: implications for smoking prevalence and cessation’. British Journal of Addiction. 83: 323–30.Google Scholar
Lesko, N. (1988). ‘The curriculum of the body: lessons from a Catholic high school’, in Roman, L. G. and Christian-Smith, L. K. (eds.) Becoming Feminine: the Politics of Popular Culture, The Falmer Press, Lewes.Google Scholar
Marsh, A. and McKay, S. (1994), Poor Smokers, Policy Studies Institute, London.Google Scholar
Marsh, A. and Matheson, J. (1983) Smoking Attitudes and Behaviour, HMSO. London.Google Scholar
Oakley, A., Brannen, J. and Dodd, K. (1992), ‘Young people, gender and smoking In the United Kingdom’, Health Promotion International, 7: 2, 75–88.Google Scholar
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (1994), 1992 General Household Survey, HMSO. London.Google Scholar
Piachaud, D. (1984). Round About 50 Hours a Week The Time Costs of Children, Child Poverty Action Group. London.Google Scholar
Pierce, J. P. (1989). ‘International trends in cigarette smoking prevalence’. American Journal of Public Health. 79: 2. 152–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wald, N. and Nicolaides-Bouman, A. (1991), UK Smoking Statistics, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2nd edn.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waldron, I. (1991), ‘Patterns and causes of gender differences in smoking’. Social Science and Medicine. 32: 9, 989–1005.Google Scholar
Witherspoon, S. (1988), ‘A woman's work’, in Jowell, R., Witherspoon, S. and Brook, C. (eds.) British Social Attitudes: the 5th Report, Gower, Aldershot.Google Scholar