The stratification of social capital and its consequences for self-rated health in Taganrog, Russia

Russian public health and its social determinants have been the theme of several recent studies. In one of these, Rose [(2000). How much does social capital add to individual health? A survey study of Russians. Social Science & Medicine, 51(9), 1421-1435] puts forward a composite model as a way of getting away from two traditions: one that postulates that social capital influences health independently of human capital attributes (education, social class, income, etc.) and one that postulates that human capital is the main determinant of health, while social capital is more or less irrelevant. In this study, we investigate the composite model, conceptualising social capital as a type of capital, on the basis of Bourdieu. By doing this, not only do the relations between social capital and other types of capital become relevant, but also whether the effect of social capital on health differs depending on the possession of other types of capital. We used the Taganrog survey of 1998 which used structured interviews with the family members of 1,009 households and the response rate was 81%. We found that social capital is stratified by education, and also that its effect on health varies depending on the volume of educational capital possessed. It also seems to be extremely important to specify different types of social capital, in order to get a better overview of possible mechanisms by means of which different types of capital might affect health.