title: Class relations and all-cause mortality: a test of Wright's social class scheme using the Barcelona 2000 Health Interview Survey.
abstract: The aim of this study is to test the effects of neo-Marxian social class and potential mediators such as labor market position, work organization, material deprivation, and health behaviors on all-cause mortality. The authors use longitudinal data from the Barcelona 2000 Health Interview Survey (N=7526), with follow-up interviews through the municipal census in 2008 (95.97% response rate). Using data on relations of property, organizational power, and education, the study groups social classes according to Wright's scheme: capitalists, petit bourgeoisie, managers, supervisors, and skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled workers. Findings indicate that social class, measured as relations of control over productive assets, is an important predictor of mortality among working-class men but not women. Workers (hazard ratio = 1.60; 95% confidence interval, 1.10-2.35) but also managers and small employers had a higher risk of death compared with capitalists. The extensive use of conventional gradient measures of social stratification has neglected sociological measures of social class conceptualized as relations of control over productive assets. This concept is capable of explaining how social inequalities are generated. To confirm the protective effect of the capitalist class position and the "contradictory class location hypothesis," additional efforts are needed to properly measure class among low-level supervisors, capitalists, managers, and small employers.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Carles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Muntaner
authors.forename: Carme
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Borrell
authors.forename: Judit
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Solà
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marí-Dell'Olmo
authors.forename: Haejoo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Maica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Sanz
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Benach
authors.forename: Kátia B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.forename: Edwin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ng
mesh_terms: D030861:Capitalism; D002423:Cause of Death; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D012962:Sociology, Medical; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology