ABSTRACT
This chapter compares different sociological theories of stress, explores physiological responses to stressful social conditions, and describes social influences on the stress process. The importance of group and organizational membership for the physical and mental health of individuals is seen in the growing interest in the concept of social capital in medical sociology. Yet social capital is not just a property of individuals; it is also a characteristic of social networks from which individuals draw psychological and material benefits. The importance of social capital in health outcomes is seen in the well-known public health study in the 1950s and 1960s in the small Italian American community of Roseto, Pennsylvania. Heart attacks in this community were 50 percent less than in four surrounding towns. Extreme situations such as natural disasters appear to be a likely source of stress because of the great anxiety people usually attach to being caught in such circumstances.
