Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Radically Reframing Studies On Neurobiology And Socioeconomic Circumstances: A Call For Social Justice-Oriented Neuroscience, Elisabeth Kathleen Webb, Carlos Cardenas-Iniguez, Robyn Douglas

Psychology Faculty Articles

Socioeconomic circumstances are associated with symptoms and diagnostic status of nearly all mental health conditions. Given these robust relationships, neuroscientists have attempted to elucidate how socioeconomic-based adversity “gets under the skin.” Historically, this work emphasized individual proxies of socioeconomic position (e.g., income, education), ignoring the effects of broader socioeconomic contexts (e.g., neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage) which may uniquely contribute to chronic stress. This omission represented a disconnect between neuroscience and other allied fields that have recognized health is undeniably linked to interactions between systems of power and individual characteristics. More recently, neuroscience work has considered how sociopolitical context affects brain structure …