Class and stratification / Rosemary Crompton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Crompton, Rosemary.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social classes.

Social structure.

Physical Description:

192 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

Third edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; Malden, MA : Polity Press, 2008.

Summary:

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 'individualisation' 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 polarisation.

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.

Contents:

Individualization, neo-liberalism and 'extreme capitalism' 2

2 Approaches to Class and Stratification Analysis 8

Debating inequality 9

Theories of social differentiation 12

'Class', a multifaceted concept 15

Social theory and social change 16

The wider critique of 'class analysis' 21

Action and structure, economy and culture 24

3 Class Analysis: The Classic Inheritance and its Development in the Twentieth Century 27

Marx 28

Weber 33

Class and sociology after the Second World War 35

The development of theoretically informed accounts of the 'class structure' 36

Class and history 38

The intertwining of structure and action, economy and culture 41

Class, inequality and the 'cultural turn' 43

Social class, social geography and the turn to 'realism' 44

4 Measuring the 'Class Structure' 49

Occupations 50

Descriptive occupational and status hierarchies and the analysis of 'social classes' 52

Theoretical ('relational') class schemes: Wright 56

Theoretical ('relational') class schemes: Goldthorpe 61

The ONS-SEC 63

Conceptual basis of the ONS-SEC 65

5 An Untimely Prediction of Death and a Timely Renewal 71

Changes in the structure of work and employment 73

The expansion of women's employment 76

Class, politics and action 79

Farewell to class societies? 82

New and revised approaches 89

6 Class and Culture: The Ethnography of Class 94

Social status, social hierarchies and social citizenship 95

Bourdieu 99

The 'new middle classes' 103

The contemporary ethnography of the working class 109

Discussion and conclusions: a new synthesis? 112

7 Families, Social Mobility and Educational Achievement 117

Introduction: class and the family 117

Social mobility 118

Declining social mobility 125

Secondary and higher education in Britain 126

Explaining class differences in educational achievement 127

What is to be done? 132

8 Widening Inequalities and Debates on 'Class': Discussion and Conclusions 136

From the 'underclass' debate to social exclusion 138

Widening inequality 144

Back to definitions: the approach developed in this book 150

The possibility of countervailing processes 152.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [164]-179) and index.

ISBN:

9780745638706

0745638708

9780745638690

0745638694

OCLC:

214309606