Making health disparities from socioeconomic status: situating internalized classism and experiences of deprivation

ABSTRACT The literature on socioeconomic health inequalities has largely overlooked how SES is experienced by individuals, often focusing on health behaviors instead. We contend that patterned experiences of deprivation that are strain-based, rank-based, and discrimination-based could help explain why SES is so regularly related to health. These deprivations are both directly associated with depression and self-rated health and indirectly connected to them through the experience of internalized classism in the form of embarrassment or shame. In a U.S. probability sample (N = 1167), these deprivations, in concert with internalized shame, are shown to play a large role in explaining SES-related health inequalities. Results suggest the promise of a more fundamental focus earlier in the cascade from SES to health. Combined with macro approaches examining sociopolitical variation, deprivation-based experiences as well as their internalization could help advance the theorization and study of classism and health.