When health is wealth: occupationally differentiated patterns of health capital in post-industrial Europe

Abstract

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).

Making sense of COVID-19: manifestations of health capital during the pandemic

“…She asserts that the concept helps examine patient-physician relationships to overcome the relational dynamics of unequal treatment [ 22 , 23 ]. On the other hand, in their research on the relationship between health capital and occupational status, Harsløf et al [ 24 ] introduce a different definition which refers to conspicuous health consumption and the display of virtuous health-related practices which includes both action and inaction. From a more comprehensive perspective, Schneider‑Kamp [ 25 ] states that health capital encompasses the field-dependent skills, competencies, social relationships, financial means, and status that can be employed toward the preservation of good health and the management of illness, immediately or mediated through conversion from other forms of capital.…”