Claims / C-SMNDGPM2QG
EmpiricalRequires evidence
The social gradient of the diseases of affluence reverses, and the reversal is evidence for the relative-deprivation account rather than decoration. Obesity was historically a status symbol, embodied proof of prosperity available only to the rich. After the transition these become primarily diseases of the poor, through a reversal in the social gradient in smoking and the consumption of refined foods such as white bread and sugar: as the products cheapen, income stops limiting consumption, consumption rises in the lower classes, and the status value of consuming them falls away. Coronary heart disease, stroke and obesity moved from businessmen to the poor without changing their biology.
Evidence 1 passage
groundsUntitled source
reversal in the social gradient in smoking and the consumption of refined foods such as white bread and sugar.” As these products become cheaper, income becomes less of an inhibiting factor on consumption, consumption levels rise in the lower classes, and interrelatedly, consumption as a status symb
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