Beyond the Socioeconomic Gradient: Reassessing Social Class Inequalities in Health

• In Event: 399 - Section on Medical Sociology Paper Session. Health Inequality: Tracing Trends and Theorizing Processes

Abstract

Departing from the gradational tradition that equates socioeconomic status (SES) with social class, I reexamine social inequalities in health with comprehensive social class indicators. These indicators include gradational SES and nominal social class, both big class and micro class (i.e. occupation). This approach allows us to identify additional social class health disparities that are independent of the SES health gradient. Using data from National Health Interview Survey, this study focuses on four major aspects of physical and mental wellbeing: general health status, chronic conditions, functional limits, and depressive symptoms. The results suggest that SES captures the majority of social class inequality in self-reported general health status, but leaves out a significant amount of disparities in specific health outcomes. Most of these additional disparities are structured primarily on the detailed occupations, and are not fully accounted for by known mediating factors such as occupational characteristics or prestige. I conclude by suggesting that the occupational habitus offers an array of health factors that cannot be exhausted by gradational socioeconomic formulations, and social class inequalities in health are even worse than we thought.

Author

• Yujia Liu, University of South Carolina