This review assesses sociological and historical research relevant to the emergence and consolidation of the American middle class in the nineteenth century. On the one hand, macrosociological theories have relied on a two-class model which renders the middle class a residual social category. Yet, on the other hand, community studies of the "new" social history--while they have opened up new avenues of inquiry into the complex social processes underlying middle class formation--have tended to focus on particular decades of the nineteenth century, leading to a fragmented view of the occupational composition of the middle class. Distinct literatures have developed around the study of particular occupational strata: artisans, small capitalists, white-collar wage earners, and the petite bourgeoisie. We argue here that different occupational groups overlap in time and represent a heterogeneous and historically shifting middle class rather than distinct entities. The argument for the integrity of a distinct middle class also rests on an understanding of the development of urban institutions and the cultural expressions of middle-class lifestyles and behavior. The expansion of this middle class, however, was closely linked to a growing economy and increasing equality of opportunity. We speculate that the reversal of these conditions, evident from the 1970s, may undermine the well-being of the middle class and its correlative social values, notably tolerance and civility.

Class Voting in Capitalist Democracies Since World War II: Dealignment, Realignment, or Trendless Fluctuation? [статья]

Опубликовано на портале: 23-12-2002

Jeff Manza, Michael Hout, Clem Brooks Annual Review of Sociology. 1995. Vol. 21. P. 137-162.

Over the last two decades, many social scientists have argued that the stable class politics of industrial capitalism is giving way to newer types of social and attitudinal cleavages. Some scholars have gone further to associate what they see as significant declines in the anchorings provided by class with the rise of new political movements, parties, and even politicians standing for office completely outside traditional party systems. Advances in class theory and statistical methods coupled with the availability of high quality data have led others to reexamine the issue. They have suggested that these arguments reflect a misreading of the empirical evidence and/or exaggerate the significance of these developments. We conclude that despite the absence of a clear consensus in the field, theories asserting a universal process of class dealignment are not supported.

Comparative Intergenerational Stratification Research: Three Generations and Beyond [статья]

Опубликовано на портале: 23-12-2002

Harry B. G. Ganzeboom, Donald J. Treiman, Wout C. Ultee Annual Review of Sociology. 1991. Vol. 17. P. 277-302.

In this article, we review 40 years of cross-national comparative research on the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic advantage, with particular attention to developments over the past 15 years--that is, since the transition between (what have become known as) the second and third generations of social stratification and mobility research. We identify the generations by a set of core studies and categorize them with respect to data collection, measurement, analytical models, research problems, main hypotheses, and substantive results. We go on to discuss a number of new topics and approaches that have gained prominence in the research agenda in the last decade. We conclude that the field has progressed considerably with respect to data collection and measurement; that shifts across generations with respect to data analytic and modelling strategies do not unambiguously represent advances; and that with respect to problem development and theory formulation the field has become excessively narrow.

Institutional Arrangements and Stratification Processes in Industrial Societies [статья]

Опубликовано на портале: 23-12-2002

Alan C. Kerckhoff Annual Review of Sociology. 1995. Vol. 21. P. 323-347.

This chapter reviews the current state of our knowledge about the role of institutional arrangements in stratification processes in industrial societies. The particular institutional arrangements considered are those of educational and labor force organizations. The review is organized around the Blau-Duncan basic model of status attainment and points to the need for a more elaborated conceptualization. Institutional arrangements structure the connections between social origin and educational attainment, between educational attainment and early labor force placements, and between early and later placements in the labor force. Industrial societies vary widely in the nature of these institutional arrangements, and that variation affects the patterns of movement from origins to destinations in the stratification system. Features of educational institutions considered include separation of students into specialized schools and ability groups (tracking), degree of central control, degree of autonomy, degree of stratification, and the number and specialized nature of credentials. Features of labor force institutions considered include occupational and firm-specific job classifications, internal labor markets and vacancy chains, industrial sectors and career lines. Critical aspects of the societal variation are the form of the interface between education and labor force structures and the nature of the transition from school to work. A preliminary set of hypotheses linking institutional arrangements and stratification processes is derived from this review.

Organizational Perspectives on Stratification [статья]

Опубликовано на портале: 23-12-2002

James N. Baron Annual Review of Sociology. 1984. Vol. 10. P. 37-69.

This essay reviews recent theory and research on organizations and social stratification, focusing on two dimensions of inequality that are affected by organizations and their environments: (a) how rewards and opportunities vary as a function of organizational attributes and (b) how enterprises differ in their criteria for matching workers and jobs. The effects of reward structures and sorting processes on workers, organizational performance, and interorganizational relations are also considered briefly. Since many hypotheses about labor markets concern links between organizations and socioeconomic achievement, there is a need for comparative organizational research to complement analyses at the individual and aggregate levels. Moreover, the interdependence of career outcomes within and among enterprises is widely recognized but requires explicit study. Future research will benefit immeasurably from the development and testing of hypotheses about how organizations and environments influence labor market processes.

Social Stratification, Work, and Personality [статья]

Опубликовано на портале: 23-12-2002

Kenneth I. Spenner Annual Review of Sociology. 1988. Vol. 14. P. 69-97.

The last decade saw considerable advances in the state of research on social stratification, work, and personality. The program carried out by Kohn, Schooler, and colleagues was central to refocusing research on social structure and personality, and generating new knowledge about social stratification, work, and personality. The review is organized around the Kohn-Schooler program and considers other research and issues in relation to this centerpiece. It includes central features and findings of the Kohn-Schooler models, replication support and extensions, scope conditions and limitations, alternate hypotheses and relationships to other explanatory models, and other forms of unattended heterogeneity. The review concludes with a summary of the ways in which the field can and should move beyond this central program; the summary is organized in terms of a research agenda at multiple levels of time and space in social structure.

Stratification and Social Structure in Hungary [статья]

Опубликовано на портале: 23-12-2002

Tamas Kolosi Annual Review of Sociology. 1988. Vol. 14. P. 405-419.

The study of social structure represents an important field of sociological research in the European socialist countries. At first, the objective of these studies was to revise the ideological model of society developed during the period of Stalinism, a model that distinguished "two allied classes"--the working class and the peasantry--and "one stratum"--the intelligentsia. Later, as knowledge developed, scientific interest shifted from ideological criticism to exploring and understanding actual social conditions. The present paper briefly touches upon these ideological and scientific developments and makes an attempt to build a model that represents both the system of reproduction and the system of inequality of Hungarian society.

Women, Family and Class [статья]

Опубликовано на портале: 23-12-2002

Annemette Sorensen Annual Review of Sociology. 1994. Vol. 20. P. 27-47.

The question of how to incorporate women in class analysis and stratification research has been the topic of heated controversy in recent decades. Much of the debate has been about the conventional approach to research on social mobility and class analysis that assumes the family to be the unit of stratification and the family's class position to be determined independently of women's work position. Those defending the conventional view can show that research on the empirical validity of the conventional view provides partial support for it, and that its use in previous empirical research probably has not resulted in serious misrepresentations. In this article, I review the literature on these issues. I summarize the criticism and defense of the conventional view and review research that examines its empirical adequacy. This is followed by a discussion of alternative approaches to the determination of the family's class position.