Open AccessTHE MEASUREMENT OF SOCIOECONOMIC INEQUALITY AND SOCIAL CLASS IN AUSTRALIA: A REVIEW OF PAST PRACTICES AND RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Author(s) -
Najman Jake M.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
community health studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.946
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1753-6405
pISSN - 0314-9021
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-6405.1988.tb00570.x
Subject(s) - socioeconomic status , respondent , social class , strengths and weaknesses , inequality , hierarchy , class (philosophy) , geography , sociology , psychology , political science , demography , social psychology , mathematics , computer science , population , mathematical analysis , law , artificial intelligence
Recent findings have pointed to an association between socioeconomic status and health in Australia but have, in the process, raised important questions about the validity of various methods of determining a respondent's location within the hierarchy. While some of the problems associated with the use of the Australian Bureau of Statistics classification were known, the full extent of these deficiencies was not. This paper reviews past and present methods of measuring socioeconomic inequality in Australia. After pointing to the criteria which should be applied to determine the adequacy of any method of socioeconomic classification, the paper reviews the main strengths and weaknesses of the methods of classification used in health‐related research in Australia.