This paper develops a Marxist analysis of the relationships between class position, work experience, the psychological effects of this experience, and subsequent health outcomes. Specifically, it is argued that the structural imperatives of capitalist production make work for those in working-class positions subject to greater routinization and less control than work for those in other class positions. Routinization and control are argued, in turn, to predictably affect two key psychological variables, self-esteem and stress, which are further argued to affect health in predictable ways. Position in the capitalist labor process is thus linked to health via the psychological consequences of the immediate work experience it engenders. Survey data from workers, managers, supervisors, and semi-autonomous employees in five capitalist firms are used to test the descriptive adequacy of this model linking capitalism to ill health for those in working-class positions.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
NavarroV.BermanD.Health and Work Under Capitalism. Baywood Press, Farmingdale, N.Y., 1983
2.
CoburnD.Work and general psychological and physical well-being. Int. J. Health Serv. 8: 415–435, 1978
3.
CoburnD.Job alienation and well-being. Int. J. Health Serv. 9: 41–59, 1979
4.
ZaleznikA.OndrackJ.SilverA.Social class, occupation, and mental illness. In Mental Health and Work Organizations, edited by McLeanA., Rand McNally, Chicago, 1970
5.
GarfieldJ.Alienated labor, stress, and coronary disease. Int. J. Health Serv. 10: 551–561, 1980
6.
GardellB.Technology, alienation, and mental health. Acta Sociologica19: 83–94, 1976
7.
LaRoccoJ. M.HouseJ. S.FrenchJ. R. P.Jr.Social support, occupational stress, and health. J. Health and Soc. Behav.21: 202–218, 1980
8.
FrenchJ. R. P.Jr.RodgersW.CobbS.Adjustment as person-environment fit. In Coping and Adaptation, edited by CoelhoG. V., Basic Books, New York, 1974
9.
McGrathJ. E. (ed.). Social and Psychological Factors in Stress. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1970
10.
OsipowS. H.SpokaneA. R.Measuring occupational stress, strain, and coping. In Applied Social Psychology Annual (No. 5), edited by OskampS., Sage, Beverly Hills, California, 1984
11.
PearlinL. I.The stress process. J. Health and Soc. Behav.22: 337–356, 1981
12.
HouseJ. S.Work Stress and Social Support. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1981
13.
InnesJ. M.Social psychological approaches to the study of the induction and alleviation of stress: Influences upon health and illness. In Progress in Applied Social Psychology, edited by StephensonG. M.DavisJ. M., Wiley, New York, 1981
14.
NavarroV.The labor process and health: A historical materialist interpretation. Int. J. Health Serv. 12: 5–29, 1982
15.
SchatzkinA.Health and labor power: A theoretical investigation. Int. J. Health Serv. 8: 213–233, 1978
16.
CorenA.When work is soulless, life stifles and dies. In Health Care in Crisis, edited by DixonM.BodenheimerT., Synthesis, San Francisco, 1980
17.
HollingsheadA. B.RedlichF. C.Social Class and Mental Illness: A Community Study. Wiley, New York, 1958
18.
DuncanO. D.A socio-economic index for all occupations. In Occupations and Social Status, edited by ReissE. T., Free Press, New York, 1961
19.
WeberM.Economy and Society, edited and translated by RothG.WittichC., Bed-minster, New York, 1968
20.
HouseJ. S.Social structure and personality. In Social Psychology, edited by RosenbergM.TurnerR., Basic Books, New York, 1981
21.
WrightE. O.Class Structure and Income Determination. Academic Press, New York, 1979
22.
MarxK.Early Writings, edited and translated by BottomoreT. B., C. A. Watts, London, 1963
23.
SweezyP.The Theory of Capitalist Development. Monthly Review Press, New York, 1942
24.
MarxK.Capital, Vol. 1, translated by FowkesB., Vintage, New York, 1977
25.
BravermanH.Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the 20th Century. Monthly Review Press, New York, 1974
26.
HillS.Competition and Control at Work. MIT Press, Cambridge, 1981
27.
BurawoyM.Terrains of contest: Factory and state under capitalism and socialism. Socialist Rev. 58: 83–124, 1981
StoneK.The origins of job structures in the steel industry. Rev. Radical Polit. Econ.6: 113–173, 1974
30.
EdwardsR.Contested Terrain: The Transformation of the Workplace in the 20th Century. Basic Books, New York, 1979
31.
MarglinS. A.What do bosses do? The origins and functions of hierarchy in capitalist production. Rev. Radical Polit. Econ.6: 60–112, 1974
32.
ZimbalistA. (ed.). Case Studies on the Labor Process. Monthly Review Press, New York, 1979
33.
GordonD. M.EdwardsR.ReichM.Segmented Work, Divided Workers: The Historical Transformation of Labor in the United States. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K., 1982
34.
NobleD. F.Social choice in machine design: The case of automatically controlled machine tools. In Case Studies on the Labor Process, edited by ZimbalistA., Monthly Review Press, New York, 1979
35.
WrightE. O.The American class structure. Am. Soc. Rev.47: 709–726, 1982
36.
GiddensA.The Class Structure of Advanced Societies. Harper and Row, New York, 1973
37.
WrightE. O.PerroneL.Marxist class categories and income inequality. Am. Soc. Rev.42: 32–55, 1977
38.
WrightE. O.SingelmannJ.Proletarianization in the changing American class structure. Am. J. Sociol.88: S176–S209, 1982
39.
GorzA.Technology, technicians, and class struggle. In The Division of Labor, edited by GorzA., Harvester, Sussex, U.K., 1976
40.
RosenbergM.Conceiving the Self. Basic Books, New York, 1979
41.
GecasV.The self-concept. Ann. Rev. Sociol.8: 1–33, 1982
42.
VallacherR. R.An introduction to self theory. In The Self in Social Psychology, edited by WegnerD. M.VallacherR. R., Oxford, New York, 1980
43.
SchwalbeM. L.Autonomy in work and self-esteem. Sociol. Q.26: 519–535, 1985
44.
HouseJ. S.Occupational stress and coronary heart disease: A review and theoretical integration. J. Health Soc. Behav.15: 12–27, 1974
45.
KohnM.SchoolerC.Work and Personality. Ablex, Norwood, New Jersey, 1983
46.
RosenbergM.KaplanH. B. (eds.). Social Psychology of the Self-Concept, pp. 174–177. Harlan Davidson, Arlington Heights, Ill., 1982
47.
GecasV.SchwalbeM. L.Beyond the looking-glass self: Social structure and efficacy-based self-esteem. Soc. Psychol. Q.46: 77–88, 1983
48.
HackmanJ. R.LawlerE. E.Employee reactions to job characteristics. J. Appl. Psychol.55: 259–286, 1971
49.
KornhauserA.Mental Health of the Industrial Worker. Wiley, New York, 1965
50.
TharenouP.Employee self-esteem: A review of the literature. J. Vocational Behav. 15: 316–346, 1979
51.
TharenouP.HarkerP.Organizational correlates of employee self-esteem. J. Appl. Psychol.67: 797–805, 1982
KanterR. M.Men and Women of the Corporation. Basic Books, New York, 1977
54.
AverillJ. R.Personal control over aversive stimuli and its relationship to stress. Psychol. Bull.80: 286–303, 1973
55.
LefcourtH. M.The function of the illusions of control and freedom. Am. Psychologist28: 417–425, 1973
56.
GardellB.Scandinavian research on stress in working life. Int. J. Health Serv. 12: 31–41, 1982
57.
FischerS.Stress and the Perception of Control. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J., 1984
58.
CassellJ.Psychosocial processes and “stress”: Theoretical formulations. Int. J. Health Serv. 4: 471–482, 1974
59.
FrankenhauserM.GardellB.Underload and overload in working life. J. Hum. Stress2: 35–46, 1976
60.
SelyeH.The Stress of Life. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1956
61.
GodkinM.RiceC. A.Psychosocial stress and its relationship to illness behavior and illnesses encountered commonly by family practitioners. Soc. Sci. Med.15: 155–159, 1981
62.
AntonucciT. C.JacksonJ. S.Physical health and self-esteem. Fam. Community Health6: 1–9, 1983
63.
SchwalbeM. L.The Psychosocial Consequences of Natural and Alienated Labor. State University of New York Press, Albany, N.Y., 1986
64.
JohnstonJ.Econometric Methods, Ed. 2, pp. 178–180. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1972
65.
BermanD.Death on the Job. Monthly Review Press, New York, 1979
66.
EyerJ.SterlingP.Stress-related mortality and social organization. Rev. Radical Polit. Econ.9: 1–44, 1977
67.
KrauseE. A.Power and Illness. Elsevier, New York, 1977
68.
NavarroV.Medicine Under Capitalism. Prodist, Neale Watson Academic Publications, Inc., New York, 1976
69.
FrankenhauserM.Coping with stress at work. Int. J. Health Serv. 11491–510, 1981
70.
BackA.LernerM.SchoreL.Occupational Stress: The Inside Story. Institute for Labor and Mental Health, Oakland, 1981
71.
LazarusR. S.Cognitive and personality factors underlying threat and coping. In Psychological Stress, edited by AppleyM. H.TrumbullR., Wiley, New York, 1974
72.
FunchD. P.MarshallJ. R.Self-reliance as a modifier of the effects of life stress and social support. J. Psychosomatic Res. 28: 9–15, 1984
73.
DohrenwendB. P.DohrenwendB. S.Social Status and Psychological Disorder. Wiley, New York, 1969
74.
LiemR.LiemJ.Social class and mental illness reconsidered: The role of economic stress and social support. J. Health Soc. Behav.19: 139–156, 1978
75.
KesslerR. C.ClearyP. D.Social class and psychological distress. Am. Soc. Rev.45: 463–478, 1980
76.
LangnerT. S.MichaelS. T.Life Stress and Mental Health. Free Press, New York, 1963
77.
GardellB.Worker participation and autonomy: A multi-level approach to democracy at the workplace. In Organizational Democracy and Political Processes, edited by CrouchC.HellerF., Wiley, New York, 1981
