Disparities in health, poverty, incarceration, and social justice among racial groups in the United States: a critical review of evidence of close links with neoliberalism

Abstract

Problems of poverty, poor health, and incarceration are unevenly distributed among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. We argue that this is due, in part, to the ascendance of United States-style neoliberalism, a prevailing political and economic doctrine that shapes social policy, including public health and anti-poverty intervention strategies. Public health research most often associates inequalities in health outcomes, poverty, and incarceration with individual and cultural risk factors. Contextual links to structural inequality and the neoliberal doctrine animating state-sanctioned interventions are given less attention. The interrelationships among these are not clear in the extant literature. Less is known about public health and incarceration. Thus, the authors describe the linkages between neoliberalism, public health, and criminal justice outcomes. We suggest that neoliberalism exacerbates racial disparities in health, poverty, and incarceration in the United States. We conclude by calling for a new direction in public health research that advances a pro-poor public health agenda to improve the general well-being of disadvantaged groups.