socioeconomic status scales by mallika hasija and harmanpreet kaur (MBBS) adesh univeristy

1. By
Malika Hasija (67)
Harmanpreet kaur (49)

2.  Socio economic status has been defined as
the position that an individual or family
occupies with reference to the prevailing
average standards of cultural and material
possessions, income, and participation in
group activity of the community.

3.  It is determined on the basis of education,
occupation and income level.
 Based on these variables, socioeconomic
status has been measured by following
methods
 Kuppuswami’s Method
 Udai Pareek’s Method
 Prasad’s Method
 Rahudkar scales
 Jalota scale
 Kulshrestha scale
 Shrivastava scale
 Bharadwaj scale

4.  Kuppuswami’s method takes into
consideration the education, occupation and
monthly income of respondent to classify or
determine socioeconomic status.
 Each component is given a weighted score
and then the total score is summed up and
the individual/family can be classified.
 The level of income is updated on the basis
of consumer price index (CPI).

5.  Profession or honors 7
 Graduate or postgraduate 6
 Intermediate or post high school diploma5
 High school certificate 4
 Middle school certificate 3
 Primary school certificate 2
 Illiterate 1

6.  Professional 10
 Semi professional 6
 Clerical, shop-owner, farmer 5
 Skilled worker 4
 Semi-skilled worker 3
 Unskilled worker 2
 Unemployed 1

7.  Above Rs. 38,600 12
 Rs.19,291-38,599 10
 Rs.14,463-19,290 6
 Rs.9,634-14,462 4
 Rs.5,773-9,633 3
 Rs.1,933-5,772 2
 Rs.<1,932 1

8.  Total SCORE = A+B+C SOCIAL CLASS
26-29 1(upper class)
16-25 2(upper middle)
11-15 3(lower middle)
5-10 4(upper lower)
Below 5 5(lower)

9.  There is an overemphasis on income, rather
than educational and occupational factors.
 It is used for urban families only.

10.  This method takes into consideration of
caste, occupation, education, land holding,
social participation, family size, housing,
farm power, material possession.
 Each of these component is given weighted
score and by summing up all the components
the SES can be determined and categorized
into several classes.

11.  Income may be concealed and it may not be
easy to determine. The scale is easy to use.
 To determine the level of poverty, these
criteria can be adopted to classify the family
as below poverty line (BPL) or above poverty
line (APL).

12. A) Caste
Scheduled caste 1
Lower caste 2
Artisan caste 3
Agriculture caste 4
Prestige caste 5
Dominant caste 6

13. B) Occupation
None 0
Laborer 1
Caste occupation 2
Business 3
Independent profession 4
Cultivation 5
Service 6

14. C)Education
Illiterate 0
Can read only 1
Can read and write 2
Primary 3
Middle 4
High school 5
Graduate 6
Above 7

15. D)Land
No land 0
Less than 1 acre 1
1-5 acre 2
5-10 acre 3
10-15 acre 4
15-20 acre 5
20 and above 6

16. E)Social participation
None 0
Member of one organization 1
Member of more than one organization 2
Office holder in such organization 3
Wider public leader 4

17. F)Family members
Single 1
Joint 2
Extended 3
Size up to 5 2
Any other distribution feature 2
G)House
No house 1
Kutcha house 2
Mixed house 3
Pucca house 4
Mansion 5

18. H)Farm power
No draught(Buffalos/cows) 1
1-2 draught animals 2
3-4 draught animals 3
5-6 draught animals or tractor 6

19. I)Material possession
Bullock cart 0
Cycle 1
Radio 2
Chairs 3
Mobile phone 4
Television 5
Refrigerators 6

20. SCORE CLASS
More than 43 1
33-42 2
24-32 3
13-23 4
Less than 13 5

21.  Its use is only limited to rural population.
 It contains too many components that are
difficult to access.

22.  Socioeconomic status of family can also be
known by criteria proposed by BG Prasad
which includes per capita monthly income of
an individual. It is computed as:
 Per capita monthly income=total monthly
income of the family/total members of family

23.  SES Class Per capita monthly income
1 Rs.5,571 and above
2 Rs.2,786-5,570
3 Rs.1,671-2,785
4 Rs.836-1,670
5 < Rs. 836

24.  SES Class Lower limit (Rs.) upper limit(Rs.)
1 5,798 infinity
2 2,899 5797
3 1,739 2,898
4 8,70 1,738
5 0 869

25.  One of the main limitation of using per capita
is that it does not actually measure
development.
 As per capita income is a mean value. It does
not reflect actual income distribution.

26. Variables Categories Score
1.Source of drinking tap(own) 3
Water tap shared 2
hand pump+well 1
others 0
2.Type of house pucca 4
semi-pucca 2
katcha 0

27. 3.Source of lighting electricity 2
kerosene 1
others 0
4.Fuel for cooking LPG 2
kerosene 1
others 0
5.Toilet facility own flush toilet 4
own pit toilet 2
shared toilet 2
no toilet 0

28. 6.ownership of items: fan 2
radio 2
sewing machine 2
television 2
telephone 3
bicycle 2
motor cycle/scooter 3
car 4
tractor 4

29.  On the basis of total score households are
divided into three categories as:
 Low-if total score is less than or equal to 9.
 Medium-if total score is greater than 9 but
less than or equal to 19.
 High-if the score is greater than 19

30.  It is an economic benchmark and poverty
threshold used by the government of India to
indicate economic disadvantage and to
identify individuals and households in need of
government assistance and aid. According to
the budget of 2011-12:
 Rural –Rs.27 per day
 Urban –Rs.33 per day
 And as per 2014 budget
 urban Rs.47/day
 Rural Rs.32/day