Norms for the social class distribution: reference data for epidemiological and health studies

The influence of social class and socioeconomic status on health risk is enormous. To interpret apparent clustering of disease and accident patterns in the community, quantitative estimates of the normal socioeconomic profile are required. This study provides such reference data for epidemiology and health studies. Three Australian scales of social stratafication have been used--Congalton's four-point and seven-point scales, and the six-point scale of Broom-Jones-Zubrzycki. Population norms for socio-occupational ranking, by sex, are presented both as frequency distribution histograms and as reference tables. The use of such tables in health studies is discussed with relevance to public health campaigns (for example, antismoking campaigns), and to the investigation of disease patterns within society.