The State Socialist Mortality Syndrome

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Abstract

Death rates for working-age men in European state socialist countries deviated from general improvements in survival observed in the rest of Europe during the 20th century. The magnitude of structural labor force changes across countries correlates with lagged increases in death rates for men in the working ages. This pattern is consistent with a hypothesis that hyper-development of heavy industry and stagnation (even contraction) of the service sector created anomic conditions leading to unhealthy lifestyles and self-destructive behavior among men moving from primary-sector to secondary-sector occupations. Occupational contrasts within countries similarly show concentration of rising male death rates among blue collar workers. Collapse of state socialist systems produced rapid corrections in labor force structure after 1990, again correlated with a fading of the state socialist mortality syndrome in following decades.

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Most cited references 43

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Author and article information

Contributors

: ecarlson@fsu.edu

: r.hoffmann@erasmusmc.nl

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Popul Res Policy Rev

Title: Population Research and Policy Review

Publisher: Springer Netherlands (Dordrecht )

ISSN (Print): 0167-5923

ISSN (Electronic): 1573-7829

Publication date (Electronic): 27 October 2010

Publication date PMC-release: 27 October 2010

Publication date (Print): June 2011

Volume: 30

Issue: 3

Pages: 355-379

Affiliations

[1 ]Center for Demography and Population Health, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2240 USA

[2 ]Department of Public Health, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Article

Publisher ID: 9192

DOI: 10.1007/s11113-010-9192-z

PMC ID: 3085062

PubMed ID: 21654907

SO-VID: 66f5fa1c-c23f-4854-b37e-6c263a4875dd

History

Date received : 12 March 2009

Date accepted : 5 October 2010

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Social policy & Welfare

Keywords: europe,working-age mortality,development policy,anomie,labor force structure,state socialism

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Social policy & Welfare

Keywords: europe, working-age mortality, development policy, anomie, labor force structure, state socialism

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