Or perhaps more accurately , ' Study shows that harassed Rhesus Monkeys show signs of stress ' This is about a study which measured the reaction of a macaques immune system in response to stress . The created a group of monkeys , added a new one to the group who then became the most ' junior ' member of the group and was subsequently harassed and ignored . That monkey then experienced more stress than the others which was confirmed though stress markers in the blood . That ' s it . We know that chronically elevated stress levels cause a range of health problems in humans and inequality is a real problem with real effects on the those at the lower end of the social scale . But the conclusion of this article speaks far beyond the actual evidence presented by the study . You could just as easily claim that it ' s the bullying rather than the social status which caused the stress response and immune adaption to it .