Social factors include non-biological individual-level factors that influence health, such as race/ethnicity and SEP, as well as “upstream” community and societal-level factors [
10,
12]. SEP is an aggregate latent construct that includes both resource-based (income, wealth, consumer credit) and prestige-based (education, social status) measures that represent both individual social position and access to material goods [
13]. While race/ethnicity and SEP are the focus of this commentary as the most studied social factors in disparities research [
14], we acknowledge that many other factors are significant across the cancer continuum: sexual identity and orientation [
15‐
18], poverty and discrimination [
6,
19], healthcare system distrust [
20‐
22], health insurance quality [
23], geography [
19], nativity or immigration status [
24‐
28], and housing [
29‐
31], among others. Social factors of clinical relevance have been documented at the individual-level, interpersonal-level (e.g., patient and provider communication), and systems-level, extending to the societal-level and beyond [
32,
33]. Further, some of these factors may change over the life course, with periods of exposure playing an important role for later cancer-related health risk [
34]. Despite the body of evidence supporting the importance of social factors to cancer, incorporating social factors such as patient race/ethnicity and socioeconomic position into cancer research and clinical practice continues to be a challenge in both risk assessment and survivorship research [
35]. For example, focusing on race/ethnicity has faced criticism because it is not a “modifiable factor,” while poverty and socioeconomic indicators face criticism because they are beyond the scope of health practitioners to treat. Nonetheless, race/ethnicity and SEP are associated with differential social, political, cultural, and economic experiences which can be modified and can influence cancer risk and care [
10,
36].