ABSTRACT
In analyzing the interrelationships among social stratification, age, and health, House and his colleagues have taken on an intricate question. What may appear at first glance to be a set of relationships between one societal-level variable (i.e., social stratification) and two person-level variables (i.e., age and health) is at closer inspection even more complicated. The complexity arises from the dual nature of age as both a societal- and a person-level variable. On the one hand, age, or better yet, aging is a complex biopsychosocial process operating within and upon individuals over their life course. This is the more common way of viewing age. On the other hand, age is also a social stratification system, like class, operating upon socially defined categories of people over historical time. Hence, chronological age is not only a presumed marker of processes within a person, but also an indication of his/her location within a social system (Riley, Johnson, & Foner, 1972). Thus, House et al. are investigating interactions among two social stratification systems (socioeconomic status and age) and two biopsychosocial processes (health and aging). A formidable task, indeed!
