How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity
Michael Marmot
In this seminal study, the renowned British epidemiologist Michael Marmot shows that the lower in a socioeconomic hierarchy a person is ranked, the worse is that person’s health—a maxim that holds for almost any disease or health risk factor. Those who stand higher up on the ladder of life are always healthier than those even a few steps below. It’s not poverty that makes the difference, says Marmot, but inequality—where one stands in the hierarchy.