HLST 3010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Health Literacy, Social Capital, Cultural Capital
19 Oct 2017
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Document Summary
Health literacy is a social and cultural practice comprised of totality of communicative practice in which individuals engage rather than a predefined reading and writing skills. Literacy practice involve active construction and negotiation of meaning from the text in a social situation. Social concept into health literacy; social context. Social determinants of health play into the social context. People negotiate their health literacy, happens within a social context. Power relations at play in this social context. In a medical encounter there is a power dynamic between you and a physician. Contemporary literature on health literacy use it as a social practice that is embedded in power structures. Focuses on reading and writing and also the ability to leverage in a variety of contexts to maintain their health. Social and personal resources used to maintain health. We can all draw on different skills, even if we come from low ses communities, to address health.
