Social Status and Health in Humans and Other Animals

TLDR

Dominance hierarchies are widespread across social species, and an individual's rank can profoundly affect life quality and health, particularly through stress‑related disease. This chapter reviews the nature of stress, the stress‑response, stress‑related disease, and the various hierarchical systems found in animals. The authors synthesize literature from nonhuman species linking rank to the functioning of the adrenocortical, cardiovascular, reproductive, and immune systems. The relationship between rank and physiological function is complex, and in humans socioeconomic status—an approximate proxy for social rank—substantially influences health.

Abstract

▪ Abstract Dominance hierarchies exist in numerous social species, and rank in such hierarchies can dramatically influence the quality of an individual's life. Rank can dramatically influence also the health of an individual, particularly with respect to stress-related disease. This chapter reviews first the nature of stress, the stress-response and stress-related disease, as well as the varieties of hierarchical systems in animals. I then review the literature derived from nonhuman species concerning the connections between rank and functioning of the adrenocortical, cardiovascular, reproductive, and immune systems. As shown here, the relationship is anything but monolithic. Finally, I consider whether rank is a relevant concept in humans and argue that socioeconomic status (SES) is the nearest human approximation to social rank and that SES dramatically influences health.