Social Inequalities in Comparative Perspective

This unique collection of original essays brings a comparative perspective to issues of social inequality. First-rate sociologists from around the world have contributed to this exciting and rigorous volume, drawing upon their own research in the fields of race and ethnicity, class and inequality, and gender and sexuality. Qualitative research on social inequalities is enjoying increasing prominence in the sub-discipline of social stratification because it addresses issues of culture, identity, experience, meaning and process. This collection is at the cutting edge of the study of social inequalities and identifies new directions of thinking about and doing research on race, class and gender in a stimulating and innovative way. Examples of race, class or gender inequalities are considered from the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, France, Portugal, Finland, and Japan. Each essay reflects on methodological issues and the strengths of qualitative research, and examines how new areas of research contribute to new ways of thinking. As a whole, these essays encourage students to see the study of social inequalities as central to a sociological understanding of contemporary societies in the twenty-first century.

Fiona Devine is Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester. She is the author of Affluent Workers Revisited (1992), Social Class in America and Britain (1997), and Class Practices: How Parents Help Their Children Get Good Jobs (2003). She is the co-author, with Sue Heath, of Sociological Research Methods in Context (1999).

Mary C. Waters is Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department at Harvard University, and co-director of The New York Second Generation Project. Her publications include Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America, (1990); the award-winning Black Identities: West Indian Immigrant Dreams and American Realities (1999); The New Race Question: How the Census Counts Multi-Racial Individuals (with Joel Perlmann, 2002); and The Changing Face of Home: The Transnational Lives of the Second Generation (with Peggy Levitt, 2002). Professor Waters was a Guggenheim Fellow (1993-94) and a Visiting Scholar at Russell Sage (1991-92).