An Intersectionality Informed Analytical Framework for Health Inequalities in Europe- The co-constituting roles of Socio-economic Position, Gender, and Migration

The current thesis brought together intersectionality and institutional approaches to health inequalities suggesting an integrative analytical framework that accounts for the complexity of the intertwined influence of both individual social positioning and institutional stratification on health. I argued that intersectionality provides a strong analytical tool for the study of health inequalities in Europe beyond the purely socioeconomic by addressing the multiple layers of privilege and disadvantage including race, migration and ethnicity, gender and sexuality. Further, I set out a research agenda considering the interplay between individuals and institutions and involving a series of methodological implications for quantitative and qualitative research. Building on this framework, I carried out research that involved both a quantitative and a qualitative design to study intersectional migration-related health inequalities among settled groups in Europe as well as among newly arrived refugees and migrants at the Greek borders as a context shaped at the intersection of border crossing, humanitarian aid and asylum policy mandated by the Greek government and the European Union. Overall, the results reveal the co-constituting role of socio-economic position, gender and migration in the production of health inequalities, and they highlight the role of migration as a social determinant of health and a stratification mechanism as well as the health impact of border and asylum policies in Europe. Finally, they offer important arguments and conclusions regarding the theoretical and methodological implications of intersectionality informed health inequalities research.