TY - JOUR

T1 - When health is wealth

T2 - occupationally differentiated patterns of health capital in post-industrial Europe

AU - Harsløf, Ivan

AU - Larsen, Kristian

AU - Bambra, Clare

N1 - Funding Information: We are grateful to Professor Håkon Leiulfsrud, Norwegian University of Science and Technology for sharing the syntax for recoding ISCO 88 data into the post-industrial class scheme. We thank statistician Dr. Yuhua Su for setting up the polychoric correlation matrix and doing the EFA used to test the health capital index. We thank Kirsti Valset for advice on preparing the multi-level analysis, and Professor Thorgeir Kolshus for constructive comments on the final draft. Clare Bambra is funded by a grant awarded by the Norwegian Research Council (CHAIN: Centre for Global Health Inequalities Research, project number 288638). Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - This paper explores the general relationship between peoples’ health-related practices and their affiliation with different fields in the occupational structure. It argues that ‘healthy behaviour’ may be particularly induced in the field of service occupations (jobs where one is providing a service, rather than producing a physical product), rendering such practices an emerging capital in the sense advanced by Bourdieu. The paper presents an empirical elaboration of this theoretical argument by assessing comparative European data on health behavioural dispositions. Across occupational class levels, defined according to Esping-Andersen’s post-industrial class scheme, service workers display dispositions suggesting greater possessions of health capital than their counterparts in the industrial hierarchy. In a multilevel analysis, considering societal context, the paper furthermore associates such endowments with post-industrial development. Elaborating on the general relationships identified, we suggest the rising importance of individual health investments to be considered as potentially instigating and reinforcing symbolic boundaries (social closure).

AB - This paper explores the general relationship between peoples’ health-related practices and their affiliation with different fields in the occupational structure. It argues that ‘healthy behaviour’ may be particularly induced in the field of service occupations (jobs where one is providing a service, rather than producing a physical product), rendering such practices an emerging capital in the sense advanced by Bourdieu. The paper presents an empirical elaboration of this theoretical argument by assessing comparative European data on health behavioural dispositions. Across occupational class levels, defined according to Esping-Andersen’s post-industrial class scheme, service workers display dispositions suggesting greater possessions of health capital than their counterparts in the industrial hierarchy. In a multilevel analysis, considering societal context, the paper furthermore associates such endowments with post-industrial development. Elaborating on the general relationships identified, we suggest the rising importance of individual health investments to be considered as potentially instigating and reinforcing symbolic boundaries (social closure).

KW - Bourdieu

KW - Health capital

KW - Occupational fields

KW - Post-industrial society

KW - Social closure

KW - Social inequalities in health

U2 - 10.1057/s41285-022-00187-3

DO - 10.1057/s41285-022-00187-3

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36245791

AN - SCOPUS:85139459109

VL - 21

SP - 388

EP - 408

JO - Social Theory and Health

JF - Social Theory and Health

SN - 1477-8211

ER -