Commentary: General or cause-specific factors in explanations of class inequalities in health

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Abstract
The series of papers published in this issue of the journal provide the opportunity to revisit one of the more persistent debates associated with class inequalities in health. The consistency of class-based health inequalities, over time, between countries, for most age groups and for most causes of death led some researchers to label the economically/occupationally disadvantaged as ‘generally susceptible’ to a wide variety of diseases.1 Recent conceptualizations advocate structurally similar general explanations which suggest a lack of ‘social capital’,2 ‘social cohesion’3 and the psychosocial work environment4 are causes of these health inequalities. By contrast, the papers in this issue emphasize the importance of risk behaviours but substantially extend the way we think about these risk behaviours.