![]() ![]() However, livestock holdings among pastoralists are also highly correlated across generations, and the intergenerational transmission of wealth inequality is on par with or even greater than what is observed in the most unequal HICs (Gini coefficient estimate for pastoralists vs the US : 0.42 ± 0.05 vs 0.37). Pastoralists are often portrayed as egalitarian, largely because of their relatively equal and open access to natural resources, trading of livestock holdings and resource sharing during times of hardship. To address this gap, we quantified the relationship between SES (defined here as absolute material wealth) and health in a small-scale, subsistence-level pastoralist population-the Turkana people of northwest Kenya. in pre-industrial societies or small-scale, subsistence-level groups), the degree to which urbanization and market-integration fundamentally change the strength or nature of SES–health relationships remains poorly understood. However, because there is a relatively limited literature examining SES effects on health outside of the industrialized setting (e.g. Finally, epidemiological changes that go hand in hand with industrial transitions could alter the nature of SES–health relationships: most deaths in modern day HICs are attributed to non-communicable rather than infectious diseases, and these disease classes are likely differentially affected by wealth. obesogenic diet, drug and alcohol use) that were largely absent during pre-industrial periods. Second, modern societies also exhibit a long list of socioeconomically stratified healthcare resources and health habits (e.g. First, relative to small-scale, subsistence-level groups such as hunter-gatherers, modern societies exhibit limited upward mobility and reduced kin support, as well as deep structural racism and violence that may intensify stress in the lowest socioeconomic strata. ![]() There are several potential explanations for why post-industrial conditions may exacerbate wealth/SES effects on health. In other words, while social gradients in health have deep roots in primate and human evolution, the nature and magnitude of SES-health gradients have potentially changed as a function of modern lifeways. In particular, it has been hypothesized that the steep wealth-based gradients in health observed in HICs are recent byproducts of environmental changes precipitated by urbanization, globalized markets, capitalism and other modern advancements. ![]() This disparity has made it difficult to comprehensively assess whether the relationship between SES and health is universal and consistent or instead varies as a function of resource availability and distribution, the nature of social relationships and hierarchies, or other socioecological features of a population (as has been shown for other species ). There is strong appreciation that we need to study the social determinants of health across a wider variety of contexts, and while research in other contexts is rapidly expanding, this body of literature still lags behind what exists for HICs. While there is clear support for the idea that higher SES (operationalized as greater absolute material wealth) is associated with better health in humans, most evidence to date comes from studies of high-income countries (HICs). In particular, animal studies have found that low ordinal dominance rank, a commonly used approximation for low SES in human societies, leads to stress-induced health issues by fundamentally altering hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function. However, studies in social mammals, where such confounds can be avoided, support the hypothesis that some portion of the SES–health relationship is driven by direct and causal effects of social status on physiology. These socioeconomic status (SES) gradients in disease risk and survival are to some degree explained by differences in health care, health habits and access to resources that are also socially stratified. In the USA, individuals in the lowest socioeconomic class (defined by absolute material wealth in the form of income) are at greater risk for major health issues such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes and are predicted to die over a decade earlier than individuals in the highest socioeconomic class. Mounting research has shown that these social environmental effects can be profound. A major goal in evolutionary biology and human health research is to understand the social determinants of health, defined as the ‘distribution of money, power and resources’ that shape health outcomes. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |