Class and Stratification

Inequality in its many forms is becoming an ever greater problem in modern society. The revised edition of this popular book explains why it is so important to understand class and stratification, and how the tools used to analyse these divisions can help us to understand and confront problems of inequality. This third edition of Class and Stratification has been extensively revised, expanded and updated, incorporating discussions of contemporary economic and social change. It includes discussions of political and economic neoliberalism and its impacts as well as developments in social theory, such as the emphasis on 'individualization' and the 'cultural turn'. New to this edition is a chapter focusing on 'cultural' approaches to class analysis, which together with established approaches are used to explore new developments in social mobility, educational opportunity, and social polarization. The book will be essential reading for upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate students in the social sciences seeking to understand the changing face of social inequality. By highlighting the damage increasing inequality is causing to the social fabric, the book reveals the important part class continues to play in our lives today.

Rosemary Crompton, Professor of Sociology, City University, London

List of Figures and Tables	p. viii
Introduction to the First Edition	p. ix
Introduction to the Second Edition	p. xii
Introduction to the Third Edition, and Acknowledgements	p. xv
Setting the Scene	p. 1
Individualization, neo-liberalism and 'extreme capitalism'	p. 2
Summary of chapters	p. 6
Approaches to Class and Stratification Analysis	p. 8
Introduction	p. 8
Debating inequality	p. 9
Theories of social differentiation	p. 12
'Class', a multifaceted concept	p. 15
Social theory and social change	p. 16
The wider critique of 'class analysis'	p. 21
Action and structure, economy and culture	p. 24
Class Analysis: The Classic Inheritance and its Development in the Twentieth Century	p. 27
Introduction	p. 27
Marx	p. 28
Weber	p. 33
Class and sociology after the Second World War	p. 35
The development of theoretically informed accounts of the 'class structure'	p. 36
Class and history	p. 38
The intertwining of structure and action, economy and culture	p. 41
Class, inequality and the 'cultural turn'	p. 43
Social class, social geography and the turn to 'realism'	p. 44
Conclusions	p. 47
Measuring the 'Class Structure'	p. 49
Introduction	p. 49
Occupations	p. 50
Descriptive occupational and status hierarchies and the analysis of 'social classes'	p. 52
Theoretical ('relational') class schemes: Wright	p. 56
Theoretical ('relational') class schemes: Goldthorpe	p. 61
The ONS-SEC	p. 63
Conceptual basis of the ONS-SEC	p. 65
Conclusions	p. 68
An Untimely Prediction of Death and a Timely Renewal	p. 71
Introduction	p. 71
Changes in the structure of work and employment	p. 73
The expansion of women's employment	p. 76
Class, politics and action	p. 79
Farewell to class societies?	p. 82
Where do we go from here?	p. 88
New and revised approaches	p. 89
Conclusions	p. 92
Class and Culture: The Ethnography of Class	p. 94
Introduction	p. 94
Social status, social hierarchies and social citizenship	p. 95
Bourdieu	p. 99
The 'new middle classes'	p. 103
The contemporary ethnography of the working class	p. 109
Discussion and conclusions: a new synthesis?	p. 112
Families, Social Mobility and Educational Achievement	p. 117
Introduction: class and the family	p. 117
Social mobility	p. 118
Declining social mobility	p. 125
Secondary and higher education in Britain	p. 126
Explaining class differences in educational achievement	p. 127
What is to be done?	p. 132
Conclusions	p. 134
Widening Inequalities and Debates on 'Class': Discussion and Conclusions	p. 136
Introduction	p. 136
From the 'underclass' debate to social exclusion	p. 138
Widening inequality	p. 144
Back to definitions: the approach developed in this book	p. 150
The possibility of countervailing processes	p. 152
Notes	p. 156
References	p. 164
Index	p. 180
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Class and Stratification

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