This article investigates the social class asymmetries on the health status of the Brazilian population. Models of multiple logistic regressions are estimated in order to determine the relation between social class and self-rated health status. On a side, property of capital, authority position, and possession of expert knowledge minimize the occurrences of negative health conditions; on another side, the work typically exploited and the exclusion from the control of economic resources generate relative health disadvantages. The social class categories generate an important source of variation on the health chances that is independent and additional to the usual indicators of social position in health studies, such as relative income, education, and household resources. The empirical results are favorable to the sociological proposition that this fundamental social division is capable of binding multiple dimensions and pathways that determine health consequences.
Social class; Health inequality; Health sociology; Socioeconomic classification
