Style of life and the salience of health: an exploratory study of health related practices in households from differing socio‐economic circumstances

This paper describes results from a small scale study, using qualitative interview methods, which attempts to explain variations in health‐related practices between households living in contrasting social and economic circumstances. The approach and methodology adopted put an emphasis on spontaneous, unprompted discourse, in an attempt to discover how ideas about matters of health and health‐related practices are integrated into routine daily life, and how this routine daily life is shaped by social and economic circumstances. The evidence from this study shows that irrespective of social and economic circumstances, matters of health rarely surfaced in people's descriptions of their lives and neither did health concerns in the context of behaviour. The implications of these and other findings are discussed in an attempt to explain the link between social structure and behaviour.