Health, Freedom and Work in Rural Victoria

Abstract

People’s health is profoundly influenced by the social circumstances in which they grow up, live, and age (WHO, 2008, p.1). One of the key areas of social organisation that influences health is work. Good employment and working conditions ‘can provide financial security, social status, personal development, social relations, and selfesteem’, all of which contribute to health (WHO, 2008, p. 72). By contrast, work environments that elicit stress or which expose workers to dangerous chemicals and toxins undermine health via material and psychosocial pathways. Show more