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Socioeconomic Status and the Health of Racial Minority Populations

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Handbook of Diversity Issues in Health Psychology

Part of the book series: The Plenum Series in Culture and Health ((PSCH))

Abstract

This chapter considers the role that socioeconomic status (SES) plays in racial and ethnic variations in health status in the United States. The Office of Management and Budget’s standard for federal statistics recognizes four racial groups (black, white, American Indian or Alaskan Native, and Asian/Pacific Islander) and one ethnic category (Hispanic). However, because this directive is without scientific basis, because race and ethnicity are socially constructed categories, and because the distinctions between race and ethnicity are unclear in health research, we treat all of these categories as “racial” groups.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48106

    David R. Williams

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109

    Toni Rucker

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  1. David R. Williams
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  2. Toni Rucker
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University, Stanford, California

    Pamela M. Kato  & Traci Mann  & 

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© 1996 Plenum Press, New York

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Williams, D.R., Rucker, T. (1996). Socioeconomic Status and the Health of Racial Minority Populations. In: Kato, P.M., Mann, T. (eds) Handbook of Diversity Issues in Health Psychology. The Plenum Series in Culture and Health. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-27572-7_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-27572-7_21

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-306-45325-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-585-27572-7

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