A Reflection on Social Position and Well-Being: Social Connection, Autonomy, and Mastery

The field of social epidemiology provides compelling evidence that social positions significantly impact health outcomes. This research underscores the vital role of that one’s social position predicts the amount of autonomy one has over their own life and the mastery one has over their environment. Key resources that facilitate the development of autonomy and mastery include education, income, social connections, and safety often predicated on social status. The erosion of social relationships and trust in the past half century has been driven by a societal shift towards staunch individualism, commodification of every aspect of life, and technology that allows individuals to be increasingly isolated. This atomization of individuals and everyday life allows for resources to be more easily extracted, widening disparities of wealth between those who have and those who do not.

The allocation of resources determined by one’s social position impacts one’s capacity to exercise their own will (autonomy and mastery). This, in turn, determines the amount of time, energy, money, and influence one has available for pursuits beyond work. The constricting of resources for those on the lower rungs of society is the key tool for the commodification of everyday life and the exploitation of raw geographic materials of vulnerable communities. While I am speaking specifically to the context of the United States, evidence shows that more democratically-oriented societies often exhibit better health equity, attributed to a more equitable distribution of resources across economic groups.

While this analysis is particularly bleak, it does not account for the influence of one’s agency and social connection. The pursuit of cultivating meaningful relationships remains to be a way of living counter to these daunting trends. Though clearly not the only way to live or be, establishing deep, meaningful relationships anchors one in an existence with and beyond one’s self, fostering resistance against the exploitative tendencies of modern life. Such connections promote well-being, enhance self-determination, and extend our collective influence over our shared environment.

Academic discourse frequently explores how the body reflects the impact of the social environment and biologically shapes the health pathways of the body. Health pathways and environment are then in interplay, mediated by individual health behaviors, influencing and producing one’s well-being and health. This interplay, termed 'embodiment', involves the complex interaction of social factors, health behaviors, and biological mechanisms such as neuroendocrine responses, epigenetic changes, and cell reproduction. Both the social environment and the physical body are intertwined, influencing an individual's lived experience. The enhancement of autonomy and mastery not only bolsters well-being but also reinforces self-determination, shaping an existence that is simultaneously self-authored and socially influenced.

An individual’s social position also reveals experiences of discrimination, stigma, and oppression. Academic discussions often frame these experiences within the context of intersectionality, particularly regarding race and class in American society. Promoting health equity requires a serious consideration of an individual's intersectionality and positionality as crucial social determinants of health. This involves challenging and dismantling systems of exploitation, oppression, and discrimination.

A fundamental yet often overlooked aspect of addressing these issues is the cultivation of a life rich in social relationships. Embracing a mode of existence that is authentic, subversive, self-actualized, and enlightened, where one is in harmony with their body and actively cultivates well-being, is essential in this endeavor.