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Stratification and Differentiation PDF

252 Pages·1999·26.59 MB·English
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STRATIFICATION AND DIFFERENTIATION SKILLS-BASED SOCIOLOGY Series Editors: Tim Heaton and Tony Lawson The Skills-Based Sociology series is designed to cover the Core Skills for Sociology A level (and equivalent courses) and to bring students up to date with recent sociological thought in all the key areas. Students are given the opportunity to develop their skills through exercises which they can carry out by themselves or in groups, as well as given practice in answering exam questions. The series also emphasises contemporary developments in sociological knowledge, with a focus on recent social theories such as postmodemism and the New Right. Published EDUCATION AND TRAINING Tim Heaton and Tony Lawson MASS MEDIA Marsha Jones and Emma Jones STRATIFICATION AND DIFFERENTIATION Mark Kirby HEALTH AND ILLNESS Michael Senior with Bruce Viveash Forthcoming POLITICS Shaun Best THEORY AND METHOD Mel Churton RELIGION Joan Garrod CRIME AND DEVIANCE Tim Heaton and Tony Lawson WEALTH, POVERTY AND WELFARE Sharon Kane FAMILY Liz Steele Skills-Based Sociology Series Standing Order ISBN 978-0-333-69350-6 (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published. To place a standing order please contact your bookseller or, in the case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 6XS, England STRATIFICATION AND DIFFERENTIATION Mark Kirby MACMILLAN © Mark Kirby 1999 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 1999 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN 978-0-333-67191-7 ISBN 978-1-349-14233-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-14233-0 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10987654321 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 I would like to dedicate this book with thanks to my parents, Cyril and Iris Kirby, who have supported me longer than anyone else, and also to my nephew, Jamie Waters Contents Acknowledgements IX Chapter 1: Introduction 1 • The philosophy behind the book 1 • What is social stratification? 3 • Subject content 4 Chapter 2: Measuring Social Class 6 • Measuring social class: objective approaches 7 • Measuring social class: subjective measures 20 • The economic basis of social class 23 Chapter 3: The Changing Class Structure 24 • The distribution of income 24 • The distribution of wealth 27 • From manufacturing to a service economy 30 • Exam question 45 Chapter 4: Theories of Class Inequality 47 • Meritocracy models of class inequality 47 • Class as a key structural basis of inequality 57 • Class formation approaches 67 • Class structure and class formation in class analysis 70 • Exam question 77 Chapter 5: The End of Social Class? 80 • Class as biased towards production relations 80 • The lack of mobilisation around class 81 • The demise of class? 84 • Exam question 93 Chapter 6: Gender and Inequality 97 • Women and paid employment 97 • Women and the domestic arena 105 • Feminism and women's oppression 110 • Exam question 113 Contents vii Chapter 7: Theories of Gender Inequality 118 • Biological theories of sexual inequality 119 • The sociology of gender 123 • Power and the structures of inequality: patriarchy and capitalism 126 • Sex and gender formation 134 • Exam questions 140 Chapter 8: Ethnicity and Inequality 146 • Ethnic minorities in contemporary British society 147 • Ethnicity and employment 149 • Racism and racial and ethnic inequality 156 • Exam question 162 Chapter 9: Theories of Racial and Ethnic Inequality 165 • Biological based explanations 166 • Ethnicity and race relations approaches 170 • Structures of racism explanations 178 • Racial formation explanations 185 • Exam question 193 Chapter 10: Age, Disability, Locality and Inequality 195 • Age and inequality 195 • Youth and inequality 201 • Theories of age inequality 202 • Disability, inequality and society 211 • Locality and inequality 214 Bibliography 220 Author Index 236 Subject Index 240 viii Contents Acknowledgements Writing a book like this requires the help of lots of others, which I would like to acknowledge. First, thanks to Tim Heaton and Tony Lawson for inviting me to contribute to their series and for the vast amount of editorial work and advice which they gave me. Secondly, thanks to the library staff at Amersham & Wycombe Col lege for dealing with a whole series of requests and continuing to give excellent service to staff and students alike. Thirdly, thanks to my colleague, Nick Madry, and my other col leagues at Amersham & Wycombe College for putting up with me. While writing this book, I was also involved in the publication of a textbook, Sociology in Perspective, and discussions with the authors of that book helped clarify the contents of this one, so I would like to thank them all. Catherine Gray and Keith Povey have both worked hard to turn my scribblings into something which can be published and I would like to thank them both for their expertise and advice. Finally, thanks to Tanya Hope, Eddie Sanderson, Dan Pritchard and Alison Kirton for letting me try out some of the ideas in this book on their students, and thanks to Julian Dean, Rachel Hek, Dr Lesley Hoggart and Dr Costas Lapavitsas for being good friends. I hope you enjoy the book and your sociology course. MARK KIRBY The author and publishers wish to thank the following for granting permission to reproduce copyright material in the form of extracts, figures and tables: Addison Wesley Longman Ltd; Aldgate Publishing Ltd; Blackwell Publishers; Harriet Bradley; the Child Poverty Action Group; Guard ian News Service Ltd, part of the Guardian Media Group pIc; HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; Heinemann Educational Publishers, a division of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd; Inde pendent Newspapers (UK) Ltd; Nik Jorgensen and the Association for the Teaching of the Social Sciences; Charlie Kimber and Socialist Worker; Tony Lawson; Macmillan Press Ltd; Thomas Nelson Pub lishers; the Observer; Office for National Statistics and GRO(S); Open University Press; Philip Allan Publishers Ltd; Andy Pilkington; the Policy Studies Institute; Polity Press; Random House UK Ltd; Routledge; University College London (UCL) Press. Acknowledgements ix We are also grateful to the Associated Examining Board (AEB) for allowing us to use questions from past A level Sociology examination papers, and the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndi cate (UCLES) for past A level Sociology examinations papers set by the InterBoard Syllabus (IBS). All answers and examination hints are the sole responsibility of the authors and have not been provided or approved by the AEB. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright-holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity. x Acknowledgements

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