Socio-economic status: a social construct with heritable components and genetic consequences

Abdellaoui, Abdel, Martin, Hilary C., Rutherford, Adam, Kolk, Martin, Muthukrishna, Michael ORCID: 0000-0002-7079-5166, Tropf, Felix, Mills, Melinda C., Zietsch, Brendan, Verweij, Karin J.H. and Visscher, Peter M. (2025) Socio-economic status: a social construct with heritable components and genetic consequences. Nature Human Behaviour. ISSN 2397-3374

Text (abdellaoui_NHB_perspectives.17062024) - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (2MB)

Abstract

In civilizations, individuals are born or sorted into different levels of socio-economic status (SES) through social stratification. SES clusters both in families and geographically, and has been associated with detectable genetic effects. Here, we first review the history of scientific research on the relationship between social stratification and heredity. We then discuss recent findings in genomics research in light of the hypothesis that SES is a dynamic social construct that reflects genetically influenced traits that help in achieving or retaining a certain socio-economic position, and can exert selection pressures on genes associated with such traits. Social stratification results in people with varying talents being placed into strata with different environmental exposures, which could result in evolutionary selection pressures through differences in mortality, reproduction, and non-random mating. Recent cultural developments may have influenced these selection pressures in ways that increase social inequality. Novel tools in genomics research are revealing previously concealed genetic consequences of the way society is organized, yielding insights that should be approached with caution in search for a fair and functional society.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Psychological and Behavioural Science
Subjects:	H Social Sciences H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Date Deposited:	27 Mar 2025 16:21
Last Modified:	27 Mar 2025 17:36
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/127662

Actions (login required)

View Item