Life or Death Politics
Karas Montez, J. (2020). US State Policies, Politics, and Life Expectancy
Background
Jennifer Karas Montez was a guest speaker during one of the Lunch & Learns organized by the CSDC. Coming from a psychology background I have less experience in the fields of sociology, demography and political science, all of which were related to this paper and this talk.
What I learned
State politics play a role in what policies get enacted. The US has had a decline in life expectancy in recent years. When republican states are partialed out, the US has a similar life expectancy as most other high income countries.
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Takeaways:
- political leaning of a state affects policy
- policy affects life expectancy
Goal: Learning from new persepectives
Hearing this talk helped me learn from a different perspective. I'm used to studying individuals and groups. This talk gave me more insight into how larger groups and organizations play a role in outcomes such as life expectancy.