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Stress and Poverty

A Cross-Disciplinary Investigation of Stress in Cells, Individuals, and Society

  • Highlights the meaning of "stress" in the natural sciences vs. the humanities

  • Discusses relation of cellular stress with the experience of stress

  • Illuminates the effect of poverty on stress

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xx
  2. Stress and Poverty: An Introduction

    • Michael Breitenbach, Elisabeth Kapferer, Clemens Sedmak
    Pages 1-19
  3. Hans Selye and the Origins of Stress Research

    • Michael Breitenbach, Elisabeth Kapferer, Clemens Sedmak
    Pages 21-28
  4. Oxidative and Other Stress Research at the Cellular Level

    • Michael Breitenbach, Elisabeth Kapferer, Clemens Sedmak
    Pages 29-56
  5. Oxidative Stress and the Brain: A Working Hypothesis for the Generation of Psychological Stress

    • Michael Breitenbach, Elisabeth Kapferer, Clemens Sedmak
    Pages 57-72
  6. Epigenetics and Some Further Observations on Stress-Induced Diseases

    • Michael Breitenbach, Elisabeth Kapferer, Clemens Sedmak
    Pages 73-94
  7. Measuring Stress

    • Michael Breitenbach, Elisabeth Kapferer, Clemens Sedmak
    Pages 95-113
  8. The Language Games of Stress

    • Michael Breitenbach, Elisabeth Kapferer, Clemens Sedmak
    Pages 115-121
  9. The Unhealthy Relationship Between Stress and Poverty

    • Michael Breitenbach, Elisabeth Kapferer, Clemens Sedmak
    Pages 123-146
  10. The Stressful Experience of Poverty

    • Michael Breitenbach, Elisabeth Kapferer, Clemens Sedmak
    Pages 147-162
  11. Social and Moral Aspects of Stress

    • Michael Breitenbach, Elisabeth Kapferer, Clemens Sedmak
    Pages 163-177
  12. The Politics of Stress

    • Michael Breitenbach, Elisabeth Kapferer, Clemens Sedmak
    Pages 179-196
  13. Responding to Stress and the Value of Resilience

    • Michael Breitenbach, Elisabeth Kapferer, Clemens Sedmak
    Pages 197-212
  14. Epilogue: The Pandemic as a Big Reveal: Coronavirus, Stress, and Poverty

    • Michael Breitenbach, Elisabeth Kapferer, Clemens Sedmak
    Pages 213-222
  15. Back Matter

    Pages 223-234

About this book

The word stress is everywhere and highly overused. Everyone is stressed, it seems, all the time. Looking into the meaning of stress in the natural science and the humanities, this book explores cellular stress as cause of and in correlation with what humans experience as stress. When do we psychologically feel stress and when do we show physiological evidence of stress in our brain? 

Stress is a deviation from what feels normal and healthy. It can be created by social or economic factors and become chronic, which has substantial impacts on the individual and society as a whole. Focusing on poverty as one chronic inducer of stress, this book explores how the lack of pressure-free time, the hardships and unpredictability of everyday life and a general lack of protection lead to destructive toxic stress. This pressure affects cognitive and social functioning, brain development during childhood and may also result in premature aging. How can the sciences inform our understanding of and our response to stress? What can be done about toxic stress both on a personal level and in terms of structures and policies?

The book is written for anyone interested in stress, its causes and consequences, and its relationship to poverty. 

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Cell Biology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Michael Breitenbach

  • Centre for Ethics & Poverty Research, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Elisabeth Kapferer

  • Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, USA

    Clemens Sedmak

About the authors

Michael Breitenbach is a retired full professor of Genetics at the University of Salzburg in Austria. He has published 230 research and review papers and edited more than 10 books in the fields of the genetics of aging and stress response. He has received a number of national and international honors for his work in genetics, including being elected as a fellow of the AAAS. His main interest in research in the last 30 years has been the utilization of the yeast genetic system to study basic eukaryotic molecular biology, in particular the mechanism and the results of oxidative stress. 

Elisabeth Kapferer holds a doctoral degree in German literature studies. She is member of the research staff at the Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research at the University of Salzburg, Austria. Her research activities, which include several (co-)authored and (co-)edited publications, focus on poverty and social exclusion in wealthy societies. Her main research interests are representations of poverty in the arts, public discourse on poverty, and poverty-related disparities in education and health. She is member of the scientific advisory board of the Austrian Health Promotion Fund (Fonds Gesundes Österreich).

Clemens Sedmak holds doctoral degrees in philosophy, theology and social theory. He is professor of social ethics at the Keough School of Global Affairs and concurrent professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, IN. He is also Co-Director of the Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research, University of Salzburg, Austria. He works at the intersection of poverty studies and ethics. Recent Publications include The Practice of Human Development and Dignity, co-edited with Paolo Carozza, Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press 2020, and Subsidiarität: Tragendes Prinzip menschlichen Zusammenlebens, with W. Blum, H. P. Gaisbauer, Regensburg: Friedrich Pustet 2021. 


Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 34.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access