Blackwell Reference Online

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The Black Report on Inequalities in Health ( Townsend & Davidson 1982 ) refers to social class as “segments of populations sharing broadly similar types and levels of resources, with broadly similar styles of living and (for some sociologists) some shared perception of their collective condition.” Two main sociological traditions of social class attach people to social structures, emphasizing either their relationships to production, ownership, and material resources (Marx) or their relationships to markets, status, power, and lifestyle (Weber). While in the Marxist tradition class positions between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat tend to be opposite, in the Weberian tradition social classes rather follow a hierarchical stratification. However, these sociological traditions of social class share the idea of unequal distribution of resources and assets in society. Both traditions have influenced the basic medical sociological assumptions that social divisions shape morbidity and mortality, and that poor health is likely to emerge from poor living conditions ( Blaxter 1997 ). Sociological studies often measure classes by occupations, but education, income, and wealth equally play a part in determining people's social class, or in broader terms, socioeconomic status. Thus, the topic of social class and health encompasses hierarchical inequalities in morbidity and mortality ... log in or subscribe to read full text