159
Views
14
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

Social status and health: absolute deprivation or relative comparison, or both?

Pages 121-134 | Received 15 Mar 2004, Accepted 18 Jan 2005, Published online: 18 Dec 2014
 

Abstract

While conceptualizing status hierarchies represents a challenge to social theorists, the task is doubly difficult for health researchers exploring status and health inequalities. Are the status hierarchies most strongly related to health adequately assessed by socio-economic status, for example, income and educational attainment? Do the various status hierarchies have conceptually and empirically distinct relationships with one another and health? To what degree does standing in objective status hierarchies, influence health above and beyond perceptions of relative standing, and vice versa? This article utilizes original survey data from the Canadian province of British Columbia to test the applicability of the materialist explanation (focused on absolute deprivation and objective status hierarchies), and the psychosocial explanation (focused on perceptions of relative comparison), for relationships between social status and health.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.