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Inequality in social rank and adult nutritional status: Evidence from a small-scale society in the Bolivian Amazon

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  • Reyes-García, Victoria
  • Molina, Jose Luis
  • McDade, Thomas W.
  • Tanner, Susan N.
  • Huanca, Tomas
  • Leonard, William R.

Abstract

Research on the social determinants of health has highlighted (a) the adverse effects of social inequality on individual health and (b) the association between individual social rank and health. In this paper, we contribute to the growing literature on the health consequences of social inequalities by assessing the association between village level inequality in social rank, a form of non-material inequality, and indicators of nutritional status. We use quantitative survey information from 289 men (18+ years of age) from a society of forager-farmers in the Bolivian Amazon (Tsimane'). We construct village level measures of non-material inequality by using individual measures of men's positions in the village hierarchy according to prestige (or freely conferred deference) and dominance (or social rank obtained through power). We find that village inequality in dominance, but not village inequality in prestige, is associated with short-term indices of individual nutritional status. Doubling the coefficient of variation of dominance in a village would be associated to a 6.7% lower BMI, a 7.9% smaller mid-arm circumference, and a 27.1% smaller sum of four skin folds of men in the village. We also find that once we decouple individual social rank based on dominance from individual social rank based on prestige, only prestige-based social rank is associated with nutritional status. Potential explanations for our findings relate to the differential forms of resource access derived from the two forms of social hierarchies and to the social and psychological benefits associated with prestige versus the social costs and psychological stress generated by dominance.

Suggested Citation

  • Reyes-García, Victoria & Molina, Jose Luis & McDade, Thomas W. & Tanner, Susan N. & Huanca, Tomas & Leonard, William R., 2009. "Inequality in social rank and adult nutritional status: Evidence from a small-scale society in the Bolivian Amazon," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 571-578, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:69:y:2009:i:4:p:571-578
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Wilkinson, R.G., 1997. "Comment: income, inequality, and social cohesion," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 87(9), pages 1504-1506.
    2. Reyes-García, Victoria & McDade, Thomas W. & Molina, Jose Luis & Leonard, William R. & Tanner, Susan N. & Huanca, Tomas & Godoy, Ricardo, 2008. "Social rank and adult male nutritional status: Evidence of the social gradient in health from a foraging-farming society," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(12), pages 2107-2115, December.
    3. Godoy, Ricardo & Byron, Elizabeth & Reyes-García, Victoria & Vadez, Vincent & Leonard, William R. & Apaza, Lilian & Huanca, Tomás & Pérez, Eddy & Wilkie, David, 2005. "Income inequality and adult nutritional status: Anthropometric evidence from a pre-industrial society in the Bolivian Amazon," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(5), pages 907-919, September.
    4. Kawachi, I. & Kennedy, B.P. & Lochner, K. & Prothrow-Stith, D., 1997. "Social capital, income inequality, and mortality," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 87(9), pages 1491-1498.
    5. Marmot, Michael & Ryff, Carol D. & Bumpass, Larry L. & Shipley, Martin & Marks, Nadine F., 1997. "Social inequalities in health: Next questions and converging evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 901-910, March.
    6. Victoria Reyes-Garcia & Thomas McDade & Vincent Vadez & Tomas Huanca & William Leonard & Susan Tanner & Ricardo Godoy, 2008. "Non-market Returns to Traditional Human Capital: Nutritional Status and Traditional Knowledge in a Native Amazonian Society," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(2), pages 217-232.
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    Cited by:

    1. Panter-Brick, Catherine & Eggerman, Mark, 2018. "The field of medical anthropology in Social Science & Medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 233-239.
    2. Undurraga, Eduardo A. & Behrman, Jere R. & Leonard, William R. & Godoy, Ricardo A., 2016. "The effects of community income inequality on health: Evidence from a randomized control trial in the Bolivian Amazon," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 66-75.
    3. Leonard, William R. & Reyes-García, Victoria & Tanner, Susan & Rosinger, Asher & Schultz, Alan & Vadez, Vincent & Zhang, Rebecca & Godoy, Ricardo, 2015. "The Tsimane’ Amazonian Panel Study (TAPS): Nine years (2002–2010) of annual data available to the public," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 51-61.

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