greater discrimination at the bottom of the social scale. The gap between working-class men and women is 8 percentage points, and the generation gap is wider still: more than 70 per cent of those aged between twenty-five and thirty-five have a good grasp of information technology, compared to about 32 per cent of the oldest group (aged fifty and over). These divisions also pertain in the dominant and middle classes, but to a much lesser extent.
In a Europe where physically present staff are disappearing from public services, new technology could alleviate geographical and generational disparities, but in fact many indicators show that it usually reinforces phenomena of exclusion.
Health inequality and going without treatment
While, in comparison to other regions of the world, it may appear that in Europe social-welfare systems enable the majority to access a basic level of care, there are nevertheless marked inequalities in the arena of health between different social groups. Here, the disadvantaged position of the working class is due primarily to their living and working conditions: exposure to pollution, work-related cancers and premature death vary according to occupation and place of residence. The risks related to asbestos for manual workers, and to pesticides for farm workers, offer two examples. To these need to be added all the deleterious effects on health of harsh working conditions: restricted capacity for work, chronic illness, and the feeling of being in poor health, particularly among older workers.42 Vulnerability to unemployment and job insecurity also has serious effects on health.43 These work-related social inequalities nevertheless vary considerably from one country to another, owing to the lack of common European legislation.
In Greece, for example, the financial crisis and austerity programmes have only increased these inequalities, by substantially reducing access to care and undermining the health of the population. The drastic financial measures imposed by the European Union reduced public health expenditure to the strict minimum, the effect of which was to withdraw social protection from the most vulnerable groups. This resulted in an increasingly unequal system of access to care, whereas before the crisis the entire population benefited from health insurance. More generally, since the 2008 crisis in public finance, many countries have increased the share of costs that patients have to pay, resulting in an increase in health inequality across Europe.
Overall, inequality in access to healthcare relates mainly to income and educational qualifications: this explains the disadvantaged position of working-class people, 9 per cent of whom, on a Europe-wide level, stated that they had had to forgo a medical appointment during the previous year. Eleven per cent of working-class people have already given up dental care, compared to only 6 per cent of middle-class people and 5 per cent of dominant-class people. These figures, however, contain some bias, as the definition of doing without care may vary depending on the importance attached to prevention and the necessity of looking after oneself.
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