CLASS, HEALTH, AND JUSTICE

Class inequalities in health are intuitively unjust. Although che link between social class and health status has been fully documented, the precise nature of the injustice has not been made clear. Four alterna tive views are presented, corresponding to four goals: (1) maximizing the sum total of health; (2) equalizing the health status of higher an d lower social classes; (3) maximizing the health status of the lowest social class; and (4) maximizing the health status of the sickest ind ividuals in society. The nature of the injustice is further obscured b y several theoretical and empirical questions, like the degree and sig nificance of personal responsibility for illness and the relation of t he degree of economic inequality to sum total of health.