IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v75y2012i12p2291-2298.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Leveraging health capital at the workplace: An examination of health reporting behavior among Latino immigrant restaurant workers in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Gleeson, Shannon

Abstract

This article examines the choices made by a sample of Latino immigrant restaurant workers in regard to their health management, particularly in response to illness and injury. I draw on 33 interviews with kitchen staff employed in the mainstream restaurant industry in San Jose, California, and Houston, Texas, in 2006 and 2007. I argue that workers must consider complex power relationships at work in weighing the advantages of calling in sick, using protective equipment, seeking medical care, or filing a workers’ compensation claim. These decisions implicate direct and opportunity costs, such as risk of job loss and missed opportunities for advancement. Workers consequently leverage their health capital to meet their economic needs, to assert their autonomy at the workplace, and to ultimately reject the stigma of illness and injury.

Suggested Citation

  • Gleeson, Shannon, 2012. "Leveraging health capital at the workplace: An examination of health reporting behavior among Latino immigrant restaurant workers in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2291-2298.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:75:y:2012:i:12:p:2291-2298
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.08.031
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612006387
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.08.031?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Scherzer, T. & Rugulies, R. & Krause, N., 2005. "Work-related pain and injury and barriers to workers' compensation among Las Vegas hotel room cleaners," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 95(3), pages 483-488.
    2. Holmes, Seth M., 2012. "The clinical gaze in the practice of migrant health: Mexican migrants in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 873-881.
    3. Loomis, D. & Schulman, M.D. & Bailer, A.J. & Stainback, K. & Wheeler, M. & Richardson, D.B. & Marshall, S.W., 2009. "Political economy of US states and rates of fatal occupational injury," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(8), pages 1400-1408.
    4. Pia Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2009. "Do immigrants work in riskier jobs?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(3), pages 535-551, August.
    5. Azaroff, L.S. & Levenstein, C. & Wegman, D.H., 2002. "Occupational injury and illness surveillance: Conceptual filters explain underreporting," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(9), pages 1421-1429.
    6. Reich, Adam, 2012. "Disciplined doctors: The electronic medical record and physicians' changing relationship to medical knowledge," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(7), pages 1021-1028.
    7. Curtis Breslin, F. & Polzer, Jessica & MacEachen, Ellen & Morrongiello, Barbara & Shannon, Harry, 2007. "Workplace injury or "part of the job"?: Towards a gendered understanding of injuries and complaints among young workers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 782-793, February.
    8. Yu Xie & Margaret Gough, 2011. "Ethnic Enclaves and the Earnings of Immigrants," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(4), pages 1293-1315, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nakphong, Michelle K. & De Trinidad Young, Maria-Elena & Morales, Brenda & Guzman-Ruiz, Iris Y. & Chen, Lei & Kietzman, Kathryn G., 2022. "Social exclusion at the intersections of immigration, employment, and healthcare policy: A qualitative study of Mexican and Chinese immigrants in California," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pia Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2009. "Do immigrants work in riskier jobs?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(3), pages 535-551, August.
    2. Naomi Anderson & Jennifer Marcum & David Bonauto & Miriam Siegel & Claire LaSee, 2023. "The Relative Burden of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses in Firefighters: An Analysis of Washington Workers’ Compensation Claims, 2006–2020," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(22), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Hazrat Hassan & Qianwei Ying & Habib Ahmad & Sana Ilyas, 2019. "Factors that Sustain Health and Safety Management Practices in the Food Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-20, July.
    4. Diane Coffey & Ashwini Deshpande & Jeffrey Hammer & Dean Spears, 2019. "Local Social Inequality, Economic Inequality, and Disparities in Child Height in India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(4), pages 1427-1452, August.
    5. Lynda R Matthews & Scott J Fitzpatrick & Philip Bohle & Michael Quinlan, 2014. "Investigation and prosecution following workplace fatalities: Responding to the needs of families," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 25(2), pages 253-270, June.
    6. Basak Yanar & Agnieszka Kosny & Peter M. Smith, 2018. "Occupational Health and Safety Vulnerability of Recent Immigrants and Refugees," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-16, September.
    7. Jackson, Chandra L. & Hu, Frank B. & Redline, Susan & Williams, David R. & Mattei, Josiemer & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2014. "Racial/ethnic disparities in short sleep duration by occupation: The contribution of immigrant status," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 71-79.
    8. Aysun Aygun & Murat Guray Kirdar & Berna Tuncay, 2020. "The Effect of Hosting 3.4 Million Refugees on the Health System in Turkey and Infant, Child, and Elderly Mortality among Natives," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 2014, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    9. Osea Giuntella, 2014. "Immigration and Job Disamenities," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(2), pages 20-26, 07.
    10. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Platt Boustan & Dylan Connor, 2020. "Leaving the Enclave: Historical Evidence on Immigrant Mobility from the Industrial Removal Office," Working Papers 2020-35, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    11. Alacevich, Caterina & Nicodemo, Catia, 2019. "Immigration and Work-Related Injuries: Evidence from Italian Administrative Data," IZA Discussion Papers 12510, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Escarce, José J. & Rocco, Lorenzo, 2018. "Immigration and the Health of Older Natives in Western Europe," GLO Discussion Paper Series 228, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    13. Anna D’Ambrosio & Roberto Leombruni & Tiziano Razzolini, 2022. "Trading off wage for workplace safety? Gaps between immigrants and natives in Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(3), pages 903-960, October.
    14. D’Ambrosio, Anna & Leombruni, Roberto & Razzolini, Tiziano, 2017. "Native-Migrant Differences in Trading Off Wages and Workplace Safety," IZA Discussion Papers 10523, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Escarce, José J. & Rocco, Lorenzo, 2021. "Effect of immigration on depression among older natives in Western Europe," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    16. Monteiro, Stein, 2021. "Cultural Assimilation: Learning and Sorting," MPRA Paper 110997, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Michael A. Flynn & Pietra Check & Andrea L. Steege & Jacqueline M. Sivén & Laura N. Syron, 2021. "Health Equity and a Paradigm Shift in Occupational Safety and Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-13, December.
    18. Andrei M. Korbut, 2016. "Electronic Health Records and Clinical Routines: Convergence and Divergenc," HSE Working papers WP BRP 130/HUM/2016, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    19. Chunni Zhang & Yu Xie, 2013. "Place of Origin and Labour Market Outcomes Among Migrant Workers in Urban China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(14), pages 3011-3026, November.
    20. Sonny S. Ariss, 2003. "Employee Involvement to Improve Safety in the Workplace: An Ethical Imperative," American Journal of Business, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 18(2), pages 9-16.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:75:y:2012:i:12:p:2291-2298. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.