The social gradient in smoking: individual behaviour, norms and nicotine dependence in the later stages of the cigarette epidemic

Abstract

The cigarette epidemic tends to develop in a similar pattern across diverse populations in different parts of the world. First, the prevalence of smoking increases, then it plateaus and finally it declines. The decline in smoking prevalence tends to be more pronounced in higher social strata. The later stages of the cigarette epidemic are characterized by emerging and persisting socioeconomic gradients in smoking. Due to its detrimental health consequences, smoking has been the subject of extensive research in a broad range of academic disciplines. I draw on literature from both the social and medical sciences in order to develop a model in which physiological nicotine dependence, individual smoking behaviour and norms surrounding smoking in the immediate social environment are related through reflexive processes. I argue that the emergence and persistence of social gradients in smoking at the later stages of the cigarette epidemic can be attributed to a combination of the pharmacological properties of nicotine, network homophily and the unequal distribution of material and non-material resources across social strata.