Table 1.

Articulating Systems of Exposure with four examples from the health inequalities literature.

	System of Exposure	Scale	System Patterning	Patterning Over the Life-Course	System Enforce-ment	Comparison of Place–Time Population Coordinates	Outcome(s)	Found Variation in System of Exposure?
Beltrán-Sánchez, Alberto and Riosmena, Wong, (2016)	SES gradient X Ethnic hierarchy	Nation	Intersectional: Continuous SES gradient X Ordinal ethnic hierarchy	Cumulative, with discontinuity in exposure upon immigration	De facto	Spatial: (Mexico, Mexican-born 2006); (U.S., Mexican-born 1999–2010); (U.S., U.S.-born Mexican American 1999–2010); (U.S., U.S.-born Non-Hispanic White 1999–2010)	Prevalence of metabolic syndrome	Yes
Lauderdale (2006)	Ethnic hierarchy	Nation	Ordinal ethnic hierarchy	Critical period	De facto	Temporal: (California 2000-2001) (California 2001-2002)	Incidence of low birth weight and pre-term birth	Yes
Krieger, Chen, Coull, Waterman, and Beckfield (2013)	Racial hierarchy	Region	Gradient	Critical period	De jure and de facto	Temporal: (Jim Crow polity 1940-1964); (Jim Crow polity 1965–2006) vs. (Non-Jim Crow polity 1940-1964); (Non-Jim Crow polity 1965–2006)	Incidence of infant death	Yes
Novak, Geronimus, & Martinez-Cardoso (2017)	Immigration status X Ethnic hierarchy	State	Intersectional: Dichotomous immigration status X Ordinal ethnic hierarchy	Critical period	De jure and de facto	Temporal: (Iowa 2007-2008); (Iowa 2008-2009)	Incidence of low birth weight	Yes

Note: The “X” indicates an interaction between two systems of exposure.