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Energy Insecurity and Social Determinants of Health

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Handbook of Social Sciences and Global Public Health

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Abstract

The social determinants of health are a conceptual framework that public health scholars have applied to better understand and act on issues ranging from food insecurity to the built environment. The framework is readily applicable to our topic of energy insecurity and health as it provides a theoretical pathway connecting social conditions to material living conditions and the health of impacted individuals. This section will situate the authors’ engagement with this framework by tracing the emergence of the social determinants of health concept, discussing how the framework has been applied in different settings and outlining subtopics for thinking about housing, health, and energy issues through the social determinants of health prism. This will bring the authors to the chapter’s main focus, energy insecurity, and the social determinants of health, which they discuss via the lenses of race, place, socioeconomic status, age and life course, environment, and health status and vulnerability. Energy insecurity disproportionately affects low-income groups and communities of color. It compromises health and adversely affects those with medical vulnerabilities. Households with children and the elderly are impacted in different ways and those living in various housing types and regions experience energy insecurity differently. This emergent area not only reflects historical disenfranchisement but also ongoing risks associated with climate change. Importantly, by making a case for energy insecurity as a social environmental determinant of health, the authors bring economic challenges into sharper focus while also bridging existing divides with environmental health and climate change studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Farzana Khan & Diana Hernández

  2. Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Miranda Simes

Authors
  1. Miranda Simes
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  2. Farzana Khan
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  3. Diana Hernández
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Diana Hernández .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University, Camberwell, VIC, Australia

    Pranee Liamputtong

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Simes, M., Khan, F., Hernández, D. (2023). Energy Insecurity and Social Determinants of Health. In: Liamputtong, P. (eds) Handbook of Social Sciences and Global Public Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96778-9_36-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96778-9_36-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-96778-9

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