Moralisation, stigmatisation, and downstream interventions

How symbolic violence sustains geographic inequalities in deaths of despair in England

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4593531
AutoresThomas J Price (0009-0009-4355-826X, Newcastle University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2025
Volumen383
Páginas118451
Fecha de publicación2025-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSocial Science & Medicine (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347
EditorialElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118451
PMID40716340
OpenAlexW4412660223
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas59

This paper examines how symbolic violence contributes to the persistence of geographic inequalities in deaths of despair (DoD), those from drug, suicide, and alcohol-specific mortality, in two deindustrialised towns in North East England. Although there is evidence that DoD are driven by structural determinants, such as economic policies, inadequate social safety nets, and poverty, less is known about how these determinants are ideologically obscured. Drawing on qualitative data collected from 30 residents of Middlesbrough and South Tyneside, two towns with above average rates of DoD, the analysis explores how symbolic violence, in the form of moralisation, stigma, and downstream interventions, frames behaviours as individual failings, downplays structural determinants, and sustains inaction while maintaining the appearance of intervention. By diverting attention away from the root causes of DoD, symbolic violence functions as a mechanism through which these inequalities are reproduced. By highlighting the cultural and ideological processes that allow structural determinants to go unaddressed, this study deepens our understanding of how inequalities in these deaths are sustained and legitimised in marginalised places. The findings point to the need for future interventions to not only improve material conditions but also critically engage with the symbolic forces that reinforce geographic disparities in DoD

Business · Criminology · Downstream (manufacturing · Environmental health · Inequality · Poison control · Psychiatry · Psychological intervention · Public health interventions · Sociology · Employment and Welfare Studies · Homelessness and Social Issues · Medicine · Migration, Health and Trauma