Variables such as income, level of education, unemployment, and receiving social support are widely used for formulating objective socioeconomic status. We can go further and estimate the wealth of the study subjects by asking about the amount of money they have in the bank, the estimated worth of their house, car, stocks, etc. Regardless of the trouble of gathering this information, is it recommended to do so? Suggestion of a book or article is highly appreciated.
Hi Haghish,
I think WHO research paper quite helpful: Kunst, A.E. and Mackenbach, J. P. (1994) Measuring Socioeconomic Inequalities in Health, Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe, (document)
University of Athens
SES is not calculated, rather it is measured or even more accurately approximated. Income is a part of individual's wealth, and as you imply, it is a more precise measure of a person's financial resources. However, I believe that in one's endeavour to measure SES, all socio-economic determinants, some of which you mentioned, should be considered. As far as the approximation itself, probably an econometric method, eg structural equation models, is the best way for this latent variable to be approximated.
The calculation should be based on some composite that reflects past achievement and social attainment (as indexed by education and occupation while still employed) but should be tempered by current social functioning. For this reason, I would recommend a composite index based on education, prior occupational social status, current income, and level of social support. In the case of the Michigan Longitudinal Study, we have a social support index that we use as the estimator.
Hi, is there an updated version of the classification of SES from job occupation? I don't find anything alse than the Hollingshead 4 factor paper.
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