The attainment of wealth and social status has been the goal for human beings since the beginning of civilizations. Socioeconomic status [SES] is defined “as a measure of one’s level of education and income” (Friedman, H., & Schustack, 2012, pg.420). The factors that contribute to one’s success have dumbfounded the masses. What makes a person more successful? Some may say the combination of hard work and hint of luck is the key to success. However, it recent years psychologists have questioned whether there is a correlation between socioeconomic status and personality. Researchers have just recently begun to explore questions relating to status and individual characteristics. It is a new emerging research topic, but they have begun to test many different aspects of the correlation to find statistically significant relationships. Low socioeconomic status has been linked to poor health. A possible explanation for this association may be characteristics of personality that influence health. A 2009 study conducted by the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University sought to assess the relationship between occupational status and individual characteristics. In this particular study, 233 African American and Caucasian, male and female individuals volunteered to participate and their parent 's education, current SES (education and income), and personality were assessed. Participants filled out the NEO PI-R [10], a 240-item questionnaire measure of the five-factor
Why are higher income and social status associated with better health? If it were just a matter of the poorest and lowest status groups having poor health, the explanation could be things like poor living conditions. But the effect occurs all across the socio-economic spectrum. Considerable research indicates that the degree of control people have over life circumstances,
Dr. Paul K. Piff is a professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2013 he gave one of the most popular TED Talks ever, on the topic of the effects of wealth on personal and social psychology. The video is most amusingly titled, “Does money make you mean?”
Socio-economic class or socio-economic status (SES) may refer to mixture of various factors such as poverty, occupation and environment. It is a way of measuring the standard and quality of life of individuals and families in society using social and economic factors that affect health and wellbeing ( Giddens and Sutton, 2013). Cockerham (2007 p75) argues: ‘Social class or socioeconomic status (SES) is the strongest predictor of health, disease causation and longevity in medical sociology.’ Research in the 1990s, (Drever and Whitehead, 1997) found out that people in higher SES are generally healthier, and live longer than those in lower SES.
societal ladder Times have changed since then, but social class is still a major factor to people’s success.
The correlations between level of education and socioeconomic status, and therefore the general health of an individual, are repeatedly proven to be evident across the globe.
Socioeconomic status is ordinarily broken into three classes to portray the three zones a family or an individual may fall into. While setting a family or individual into one of these classes, any or the majority of the three variables can be surveyed. Furthermore, low salary and education have been appeared to be solid indicators of a scope of physical and emotional wellness issues, including respiratory infections, joint pain, coronary illness, and schizophrenia. These issues might be because of natural conditions in their working environment, or, on account of dysfunctional behaviors, might be the whole reason for that individual 's social problem regardless. Education in higher socioeconomic families is ordinarily pushed as a great deal more vital, both inside of the family and additionally the nearby group. In poorer zones, where nourishment and security are need, education can take a secondary lounge.
Different researches do believe that there is a link between social class and health. It is a statistical impression and also it has been argued that there isn’t really a pattern in social class, age and peoples employment that has had an impact on people’s health inequalities.
Socioeconomic status and gender is considered a cause of racial disparities in health since it constrains access to power, social and psychological resources, and economic capital. Those with low socioeconomic status and in segregated areas have less access to quality elementary and high school education since they normally have less qualified teachers, lower test scores, and fewer connections to colleges. These individuals also experience less employment opportunities because employers discriminate based on the residence of the job applicants since they view individuals in low-income areas as being drug users, having poor communication skills, low reading levels, and family issues. This leaves the residents in racially segregated neighborhoods jobless so they cannot increase their socioeconomic status (Takeuchi et al. 2010). The state of poverty is likely to continue for these individuals because they do not possess the necessary means to reduce their
Low socioeconomic status is often associated with higher prevalence of depression. Depressive disorders which develop in socioeconomically tight situations have lower rates of remission and higher risks of becoming chronic, hence increasing prevalence (Bramesfeld, Platt & Schwartz, 2006). Mental health problems like depression and anxiety have a higher prevalence in
This essay will discuss ways in which a person’s socioeconomic class and his/her social situation can have an impact on his/her health, using examples. We believe that there is a direct link between socioeconomic/social class and health (Adler et al. 1994). I will be defining the key terms: socioeconomic and health, social class then proceed to discuss about how poverty, income, employability, environment and housing can impact on a person’s social situation and their health.
G. William Domhoff is by trade a psychologist and sociologist and is the author of several books on the theory of power and class structure. In his book, Who rules America Now? Domhoff provides an in depth analysis of the structure of wealth and power in America. He asserts the existence of an institutional upper class in America that is able to dictate/direct the politics, economy and government by virtue of its wealth and power. I contend that Domhoff through his analysis of the wealth and power structure of the American upper class can be considered as a lay cultural theorist. This is based upon his identification of the cultural processes of the upper class - those learned shared patterns of behaviors and interactions that allow them
The aim of this essay is to examine the influence that socio-economic status has on an individual’s health.
The literature thus firmly supports the thesis that socio-economic status is directly correlated with academic success, due to the superior financial and social capital resources available to the middle-class student. Furthermore, the interdependence between multiple factors means that the cumulative impact of risk factors may be greater than the simple sum of separate factors (Sparks, 1999:10)
Socioeconomic status is a predictive measure of health that has been widely used in the literature (Kroenke, 2008). It
Inequality in the society has been an issue since the history of the universe and as we think we are bridging the gap between the rich and the poor we always find out that it is as a wide as it was. The poor will always exist in the society as the inferior group while the rich are the superiors who control various aspects and sectors of the society.