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Low social status 'can damage immune system'

bbc.com

71–75 of 75 posts

Re: Low social status 'can damage immune system'

#71
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the level of inequality, and the level of social mobility (which is probably related to the magnitude of inequality), is more important than the existence of inequality.

Are you aware of any academic literature on the subject?

It's not my area, but putting some keywords in Google Scholar yielded some results pretty quickly. E.g. this paper

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13504850701720197

"We investigate the relationship between inequality and intergenerational mobility. Proxying fathers' earnings with using detailed occupational data, we find that sons who grew up in countries that were more unequal in the 1970s were less likely to have experienced social mobility by the late-1990s."

Re: Low social status 'can damage immune system'

#72
post #54
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the specific ideas for demonstrating high status included not moving your head when speaking, speaking and moving slowly, beginning statements with a long 'uhhhh' (a short 'uh' sound, however, demonstrated low status), and taking up space. I'd recommend moving it to the top of your reading list; it's one of those incredible books that i get something new out of every time I read it. It goes deep into human in…

> Some of the specific ideas for demonstrating high status included not moving your head when speaking, speaking and moving slowly, beginning statements with a long 'uhhhh' (a short 'uh' sound, however, demonstrated low status), and taking up space. I hope this knowledge (regardless of whether it's true) does not spread - I'm sure there would be plenty of people who will try to "hack the system" and will act accordin…

Wouldn't it be better if those hacking techniques are more commonly known, making it harder to measure a stranger's social status, so we treat everyone equally?

This will not solve the root problem of the existence of social ladder, but I don't see how spreading this knowledge can cause harm.

Re: Low social status 'can damage immune system'

#73
post #57
post #32

This is well known. Relative social status has an influence on health. Above survival level, it's healthier to be at the top of a poor culture than at the bottom of a rich one, even if the absolute level is lower.

This article is about one of the mechanisms, which wasn't well known. We know there's a bunch of reasons why poor people are unhealthy - more smoking, more alcohol, worse food, less exercise, more dangerous jobs, less protection in those dangerous jobs, less exercise, less access to health treatment (even if it's free). But this study: > The findings, in Science, had nothing to do with the unhealthy behaviours that a…

Don't forget the oft-overlooked poor stress coping mechanisms and the associated psychological and personality disorders; and "privilege deficits" such the lack of healthy social support systems, the inability to build healthy relationships that increase knowledge, self-awareness, and expand skills that promote personal, social and economic growth.

Re: Low social status 'can damage immune system'

#74
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some of the specific ideas for demonstrating high status included not moving your head when speaking, speaking and moving slowly, beginning statements with a long 'uhhhh' (a short 'uh' sound, however, demonstrated low status), and taking up space. I hope this knowledge (regardless of whether it's true) does not spread - I'm sure there would be plenty of people who will try to "hack the system" and will act accordin…

That happened at least 10 years ago with the publication of The Game [1] and the emergence of the pickup community [2]. And if you want to know how insufferable it's been, just ask any woman who's been in the dating scene in the past 10 years how they feel about 'negging'. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game:_Penetrating_the_Secr... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seduction_community

>That happened at least 10 years ago with the publication of The Game

Despite what you may feel about pickup artists, The Game is genuinely worth a read.

The trick is not to read it as a "how to meet girls" manual.

What's most interesting about it is the behaviour of them belies their own insecurity and an uncomfortableness around women. The book itself alludes to this.

Re: Low social status 'can damage immune system'

#75
post #5

As with many things, this is also more complex. This article: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303694650_Primate_r... suggests that higher status animal in this particular group have a higher parasite burden.

Low status is stressful. And so is high status.

I enjoy my stress with sauna, massages and whine.
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