ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies the components of socioeconomic status (SES). It describes the relationship between social class and health. The chapter evaluates how neighborhood disadvantage affects health. It also discusses how social factors can be fundamental causes of health and disease. A social class is a category or group of people who have approximately the same amount of wealth, status, and power in a society. In 2001, social scientists in the United Kingdom adopted the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC) scheme as their official measure of class position. This approach was based on differences in employment relationships and work conditions that commonly used a seven-class model. Yet, the term status groups did not replace social class in sociology to signify a person's location in a social structure. Weber's influence on modern studies of social stratification is nevertheless seen in the widespread use of SES to determine class standing in sociological research.
