Social theory and social class.
Concepts of class developed with the emergence of industrial society in the nineteenth century. For an understanding of current divisions, theories must reflect the advances of capitalism and the global economy that characterize the late twentieth century. In industrialized societies, reductions in the industrial workforce and the growth of finance, investment and real-estate industries worldwide have produced a new, largely female, service workforce. Large sectors of industry have departed in search of cheaper labour in poorer countries, which also have a rising number of women workers. In those areas, as a result, a new industrial workforce has emerged. Concomitantly, accumulation of land in less developed agricultural regions for production for the world market has led to an increase in mobile agricultural labour and a shift of landless labourers to the cities of less developed countries. In addition, both upward and downward mobility have occurred for individuals and groups in specific populations, as well as for particular diseases in developed and less developed countries. All these processes have precipitated fundamental changes in class, gender and family relationships and transformed the living conditions of populations in both developed and less developed societies. These changes have major implications for the patterns of health and disease in the world today. Objective measures of social change may be difficult to construct and use in epidemiological cancer research. Since questions of class and shifting social relations are directly implicated in the patterns of disease, they must be assessed in future research as accurately as possible.
Susser
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Department of Anthropology, Hunter College, City University of New York, NY 10021, USA.
D019049:Developed Countries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004467:Economics; D004813:Epidemiology; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D005378:Financial Support; D005544:Forecasting; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry; D007449:Investments; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D011056:Political Systems; D011203:Poverty; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D012737:Sex Factors; D012922:Social Change; D012923:Social Class; D012924:Social Conditions; D012937:Social Mobility; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014171:Transients and Migrants; D014931:Women, Working; D014937:Work