Urban Transformations and New Dynamics of Exclusions: A Mixed Method Study of Health and Well-Being in an Expanding City of India

Rakesh Chandra, Saradiya Mukherjee

Center for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.

DOI: 10.4236/cus.2015.32012                

Abstract

Indian society divided along the lines of Caste is a unique case for the study of exclusion. Caste based divisions and consequent exclusion has a significant impact on human well being in India. Even after significant restructuring of living spaces and social equations in the form of urbanisation, exclusion is implicit in Indian cities. It manifest in the form of social and spatial exclusion in Indian urban landscapes. In this study, we examine linkages between socio-spatial exclusion and health and well-being through certain pathways. Based in an urban village of Varanasi in India, this study is built on a mixed method. The population of the study area, although historically an integral part of city, were found to be marginalised and excluded socially and spatially in the whole process of urban transformations. Continued exclusion suffered by this urban village amid the city influenced well-being of its inhabitants negatively, particularly their patterns of health.

Keywords

Caste, Urbanisation, Exclusion, Well-Being, Health

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Anderson, R. T., Sorlie, P., Backlund, E., Johnson, N., & Kaplan, G. A. (1997). Mortality Effects of Community Socioeconomic Status. Epidemiology, 8, 42-47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3702421
[2]	Banerjee, A., Mishra, V. K., Rizvi, F., & Ahmad, M. (2004). Discrimination in the Urban Rental Housing Market: A Spatial Analysis of the Delhi Region. Journal of Social Inclusion Studies, 1, 135-147.
[3]	Bhalla, A., & Lapeyre, F. (2002). Social Exclusion: Towards an Analytical and Operational Framework. Development and Change, 28, 413-433. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-7660.00049
[4]	Bosma, H., Dike van de Mheen, H., Borsboom, G. J., & Mackenbach, J. P. (2001). Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status and All-Cause Mortality. American Journal of Epidemiology, 153, 363-371. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aje/153.4.363
[5]	Browning, C. R., & Cagney, K. A. (2003). Moving beyond Poverty: Neighborhood Structure, Social Processes, and Health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 44, 552-571. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1519799 http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1519799
[6]	Cohen, D. A., Farley, T. A., & Mason, K. (2003). Why Is Poverty Unhealthy? Social and Physical Mediators. Social Science & Medicine, 57, 1631-1641. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(03)00015-7
[7]	Crawford, D., Timperio, A., Giles-Corti, B., Ball, K., Hume, C., Roberts, R., & Salmon, J. (2008). Do Features of Public Open Spaces Vary According to Neighbourhood Socio-Economic Status? Health & Place, 14, 889-893. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2007.11.002
[8]	Creswell, J. W., & Clark, V. L. P. (2007). Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
[9]	De Haan, A. (1997). Poverty and Social Exclusion: A Comparison of Debates on Deprivation. PRUS/IDS Workshop, 28-29.
[10]	Dhesi, A. S., & Singh, H. (1989). Education, Labour Market Distortions and Relative Earnings of Different Religion-Caste Categories in India. Canadian Journal of Development Studies, X, 75-89.
[11]	Duncan, C., Jones, K., & Moon, G. (1999). Smoking and Deprivation: Are There Neighbourhood Effects? Social Science & Medicine, 48, 497-505. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(98)00360-8
[12]	Feldman, P., Warr, D., Tacticos, T., & Kelaher, M. (2009). People, Places and Policies—Trying to Account for Health Inequalities in Impoverished Neighbourhoods. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 33, 17-24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2009.00333.x
[13]	Fone, D. L., & Dunstan, F. (2006). Mental Health, Places and People: A Multilevel Analysis of Economic Inactivity and Social Deprivation. Health and Place, 12, 332-344. http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17638132 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2005.02.002
[14]	Frohlich, K. L., Potvin, L., Chabot, P., & Corin, E. (2002). A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Context: Neighbourhoods, Smoking and Youth. Social Science & Medicine, 54, 1401-1417. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(01)00122-8
[15]	Frumkin, H. (2003). Healthy Places: Exploring the Evidence. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 1451-1456. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.93.9.1451
[16]	Furler, J. S., Harris, E., Chondros, P., Davies, P. P., Harris, M. F., & Young, D. Y. (2002). The Inverse Care Law Revisited: Impact of Disadvantaged Location on Accessing Longer GP Consultation Times. Medical Journal of Australia, 177, 80-83. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2002/177/2/inverse-care-law-revisited-impact-disadvantaged-location-accessing-longer-gp
[17]	Gans, H. J. (1967). The Urban Villagers: Group and Class in the Life of Italian-Americans. New York: Free Press.
[18]	Gatrell, A., Bostock, L., Popay, J., Williams, G., Shuhtahmasebi, S. (2000). Understanding Health Inequalities: Locating People in Geographical and Social Spaces. In A. Gatrell, L. Bostock, J. Popay, G. Williams, & S. Shuhtahmasebi (Eds.), Understanding Health Inequalities (pp. 156-169). Buckingham: Open University Press. http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/14178
[19]	Geis, K. J., & Ross, C. E. (1998). A New Look at Urban Alienation: The Effect of Neighborhood Disorder on Perceived Powerlessness. Social Psychology Quarterly, 61, 232-246. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2787110 http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2787110
[20]	Kawachi, I. (2006). The Health Of Nations: Why Inequality Is Harmful To Your Health. New York: The New Press.
[21]	Kelly, M., Morgan, A., Bonnefoy, J., Butt, J., & Bergman, V. (2007). The Social Determinants of Health: Developing an Evidence Base for Political Action. WHO Final Report to the Commission, 677-690.
[22]	Khan, M. A. (1995). Human Rights and the Dalits. Delhi: Uppal Publishing House.
[23]	Lee, R. E., & Cubbin, C. (2002). Neighborhood Context and Youth Cardiovascular Health Behaviors. American Journal of Public Health, 92, 428-436. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.92.3.428
[24]	Leyden, K. (2003). Social Capital and Built Environment: The Importance of Walkable Neighborhoods. American Journal of Public Health, 92, 1546-1551. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.93.9.1546
[25]	Pickett, K. E., & Pearl, M. (2001). Multilevel Analyses of Neighbourhood Socioeconomic Context and Health Outcomes: A Critical Review. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 55, 111-122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech.55.2.111
[26]	Poortinga, W., Dunstan, F. D., & Fone, D. L. (2007). Perceptions of the Neighbourhood Environment and Self Rated Health: A Multilevel Analysis of the Caerphilly Health and Social Needs Study. BMC Public Health, 7, 285. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-7-285
[27]	Power, A. (2000). Poor Areas and Social Exclusion. Social Exclusion and the Future of Cities. London: Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics.
[28]	Reijneveld, S. A. (2002). Neighbourhood Socioeconomic Context and Self Reported Health and Smoking: A Secondary Analysis of Data on Seven Cities. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 56, 935-942. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech.56.12.935
[29]	Robert, S. A. (1998). Community-Level Socioeconomic Status Effects on Adult Health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 39, 18-37. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2676387 http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2676387
[30]	Room, G. (1995). Poverty and Social Exclusion: The New European Agenda for Policy and Research. In G. Room (Ed.), Beyond the Threshold: The Measurement and Analysis of Social Exclusion (pp. 1-9). Bristol: Policy Press.
[31]	Ross, C. E., & Mirowsky, J. (2001). Neighborhood Disadvantage, Disorder, and Health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42, 258-276. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/3090214 http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3090214
[32]	Sen, A. K. (2000). Social Exclusion: Concept, Application, and Scrutiny. Manila: Office of Environment and Social Development, Asian Development Bank.
[33]	Srinivasan, S., O’Fallon, L. R., & Dearry, A. (2003). Creating Healthy Communities, Healthy Homes, Healthy People: Initiating a Research Agenda on the Built Environment and Public Health. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 1446-1450. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.93.9.1446
[34]	Stafford, M., & Marmot, M. (2003). Neighbourhood Deprivation and Health: Does It Affect Us All Equally? International Journal of Epidemiology, 32, 357-366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyg084
[35]	Tashakkori, A., & Teddlie, C. (1998). Mixed Methodology: Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (Vol. 46). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
[36]	Thorat, S. (2005). Caste, Social Exclusion and Poverty Linkages—Concept, Measurement and Empirical Evidence. Concept Paper for PACS, New Delhi.
[37]	Wilkinson, R. (1996). Unhealthy Societies: The Afflictions of Inequality. London: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203421680
[38]	Yen, I. H., & Kaplan, G. A. (1999). Neighborhood Social Environment and Risk of Death: Multilevel Evidence from the Alameda County Study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 149, 898-907. http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/149/10/898.short http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009733
[39]	Yen, I. H., & Syme, S. L. (1999). The Social Environment and Health: A Discussion of the Epidemiologic Literature. Annual Review of Public Health, 20, 287-308. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.20.1.287
[40]	Zheng, S., Long, F., Fan, C. C., & Gu, Y. (2009). Urban Villages in China: A 2008 Survey of Migrant Settlements in Beijing. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 50, 425-446. http://dx.doi.org/10.2747/1539-7216.50.4.425
[41]	Ziersch, A. M., Baum, F. E., MacDougall, C., & Putland, C. (2005). Neighbourhood Life and Social Capital: The Implications for Health. Social Science and Medicine, 60, 71-86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.04.027