Rethinking the relationship between socioeconomic status and health: Challenging how socioeconomic status is currently used in health inequality research

Abstract

Aims: The Scandinavian Journal of Public Health recently reiterated the importance of addressing social justice and health inequalities in its new editorial policy announcement. One of the related challenges highlighted in that issue was the limited use of sociological theories able to inform the complexity linking the resources and mechanisms captured by the concept of socioeconomic status. This debate article argues that part of the problem lies in the often unchallenged reliance on a generic conceptualization and operationalization of socioeconomic status. These practices hinder researchers’ capacity to examine in finer detail how resources and circumstances promote the unequal distribution of health through distinct yet intertwined pathways. As a potential way forward, this commentary explores how research practices can be challenged through concrete publication policies and guidelines. To this end, we propose a set of recommendations as a tool to strengthen the study of socioeconomic status and, ultimately, the quality of health inequality research. Conclusions: Authors, reviewers, and editors can become champions of change toward the implementation of sociological theory by holding higher standards regarding the conceptualization, operationalization, analysis, and interpretation of results in health inequality research.