In this podcast, Sherman James describes what he terms as “John Henryism,” in order to examine how social stratification and working class, poor, and minority groups’ dispositions toward improving their social and economic situation can be associated with health problems. John Henryism, James explains, is a “strong personality disposition to engage in high-effort coping with social and economic adversity. For racial and ethnic minorities […] who live in wealthy, predominantly white countries–say, the United States–that adversity might include recurring interpersonal or systemic racial discrimination.” John Henry is a figure from American folklore, a railroad worker famous for his physical strength. The figure is thought to be based on a manual worker, perhaps an emancipated slave. Henry’s boss challenged him to compete against a mechanical steam drill, a challenge he won, but as James explains, “he died from complete mental and physical exhaustion following his victory.” Coronavirus has shone a light on the disproportionate toll such a pandemic can have on communities of color in the United States. James discusses the increased likelihood these communities have of catching and dying from the virus and introduces ideas that would allow deprived communities to pursue their goals, without increasing the destruction of their wellbeing. DE: DAVID EDMONDS SJ: SHERMAN JAMES DE: This is Social Science Bites with me, David Edmonds. Social Science Bites is a series of interviews with leading social scientists and is made in association with SAGE Publishing. Several decades ago, an American epidemiologist now based at Duke University came up with a hypothesis that certain groups were susceptible to health problems because of the stress of high effort of trying too hard. The epidemiologist is Sherman James. And he gave the hypothesis a name, John Henryism. Sherman James, welcome to Social Science Bites. SJ: Thank you very much, David. DE: The topic we’re talking about today is John Henryism. Who was John Henry? SJ: John Henry was a unskilled manual laborer, perhaps an emancipated slave. The legendary John Henry was a railroad worker. And he was renowned throughout the South for his amazing physical strength as being the best steel driver of anyone. And so one day, he was challenged by the captain, by the work boss to compete against a mechanical steam drill. He accepted the challenge. And there was an epic battle of man, John Henry, against the machine. And John Henry actually beat the machine. But he died from complete physical and mental exhaustion following his victory. DE: And this is when, late 19th century? SJ: Yes, roughly the early 1870s. DE: So that’s the folklore John Henry. But you also met somebody with the same name. SJ: I did. I met a man, an African-American man by the name of John Henry Martin. I did not know his full name. All I knew initially was that his name was John Martin. And he had this amazing story of having been born into a very, very poor family, a sharecropping family, in the early 1900s. And he decided that he did not want to be a sharecropper like his father, and have his labor exploited, and remain in debt his entire life. And so with his wife’s encouragement, he took out a bank loan to buy 75 acres of land. And he had 40 years to pay off the bank loan. But he wanted to pay it off in one year because he did not want to be vulnerable in that way. He worked night and day and managed to pay off that 75 acres of fertile North Carolina land in five years. But he suffered from high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, which left him with a disability. He was hardly able to walk when I met him. And he had in his 50s a case of peptic ulcers disease that was so severe that 40% of his stomach had to be removed. And after I listened to this amazing story of how he had overcome enormous odds to become an independent farmer, a landowner, someone capable of managing his own life, his wife came to the door, and she said, John Henry, it’s time for lunch, and bring your guest with you. And I looked at him with astonishment. And I said, your name is John Henry. And he said, John Henry Martin is my name. And I was just blown away by that. And I thought, holy cow. And as I thought about his life story, I realized that his story not only echoed the folktale of John Henry, the legendary steel driver, but it also echoed the life experiences of so many working-class African-Americans that I knew. DE: So these two John Henry’s were both battling against the odds. They were both fighters working astonishingly hard. The second John Henry, the one you met, had serious physical problems, became seriously ill. What then is John Henryism? SJ: So John Henryism is defined as a strong personality disposition to engage in high-effort coping with social and economic adversity. Now, that adversity might include financial hardship, work demands, job loss, or job insecurity. For racial and ethnic minorities– for example, John Henry Martin– who live in wealthy, predominantly white countries– say, the United States– that adversity might include recurring interpersonal or systemic racial discrimination. So it’s high-effort coping with adversity and determination to succeed despite being faced with enormous odds. DE: So it’s the high effort but also the physical repercussions of that. Spell out what those repercussions are. SJ: Yes. So that high-effort coping when engaged in over years, perhaps decades, can produce excessive wear and tear on multiple physiological systems– the cardiovascular system, the immune system, the metabolic system. So it can have widespread physiological consequences. And in terms of cardiovascular health, it can really damage blood vessels. And it can damage the heart. And this is a consequence of this enormous outpouring of energy and the release...