Social Class - Abstracts
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Social Classes in Classical and Marxist Political Economy. - Author/s: John Milios - ABSTRACT. The notion social class attains a well-defined theoretical content in the works of the classical political economists, who defined classes on the basis of the specific income form that each category of people (class) obtains. This approach to class constitutes a first form of a "friendly merger" between political economy and sociology. When combined with the classical labor value theory, it has led to a theory of class exploitation of the laboring class by the capitalist class. As economic theory became increasingly apologetic after the "Marginalist Revolution" (setting itself the aim of justifying capitalism), the theory of class has been totally banished from the corpus of "modern (neoclassical) economic science."
Social Class and the Spirit of Capitalism
Matthias Doepke, UCLA and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Fabrizio Zilibotti, Institute for International Economic Studies
Journal of the European Economic Association.
Abstract: One of the key social transformations that accompanied the British Industrial
Revolution was the economic decline of the aristocracy. Standard theories of wealth
inequality cannot explain why the aristocrats, in spite of their superior wealth and
education, failed to be the main protagonists and beneficiaries of industrialization. We
discuss recent research based on a model of endogenous preferences that is consistent with
the demise of aristocracy. (JEL: 010, 040) Copyright (c) 2005 The European Economic
Association.
Relationship of Gender, Self-Esteem, Social Class, and Racial Identity to
Depression in Blacks - Maria B. Munford, Journal of Black Psychology, Vol. 20,
No. 2, 157-174 (1994)
Abstract. Previous research has indicated that depression, the most common mental illness,
can be related to suchfactors as gender, self-esteem, social class, and racial identity.
Subjects in this study were 146 Black university students at North Carolina Central
University and 83 Black males andfemales from the general population. The subjects were
administered the Beck Depression Inventory, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the
Hollingshead Two-Factor Index of Social Position, and the Racial Identity Attitude Scale.
Data analysis was achieved through stepwise multiple regression and independent t-test
techniques. Results showed that higher levels of depression were associated with lower
levels of self-esteem. Preencounter and encounter attitudes were positively related to
levels of depression, and internalization attitudes were negatively associated with levels
of depression. No significant gender differences were found in levels of self-esteem and
depression, and no significant social class differences were found in levels of
depression.
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Lifestyle and Social Class Mark Tomlinson
ESRC Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition, Devonshire House, University of
Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9QH, UK. e-mail: mark.tomlinson@man.ac.uk
European Sociological Review 19:97-111 (2003) © 2003 Oxford University Press
Abstract. Using data on health and lifestyles the paper attempts to show that it is
possible to identify distinct niches of behaviour in British society in the 1980s and
1990s. Contrary to many current theories of consumption and lifestyle, however, it also
shows that traditional notions such as social class and gender are still highly relevant
to a discussion of lifestyle and consumer behaviour and may even be better determinants.
The ‘post-traditional’ groups and behaviours postulated by certain
‘post-Fordist’ thinkers are no more powerful than the ‘traditional’,
although the reasons why this is so remain to be explained. The discussion is loosely
framed around two opposed views of consumption and lifestyle. Bourdieu argues that social
classes possess varying levels of different types of capital (social, economic, and
cultural) and that these are a major determinant of lifestyle and this will be represented
in patterns of eating or varieties of leisure activities. A more recent view, associated
with writers such as Lash and Urry, Giddens, or Beck, postulates that consumption is now
more likely to be driven by post-traditional forms of life relating to the fact that old
social structures have effectively been flattened. The data find more support for the
first of these views. The analysis uses categorical data techniques on the 1985 Health and
Lifestyles Survey and 1992 follow-up survey to first show the clustering of behavioural
patterns, and secondly to show that these clusterings tend to be strongly associated with
traditional social categories such as class and gender.
Globalisation, Youth Expectations and Social Class: The Case of Sri Lanka
Angela W. Little, University of London - Institute of Education
Ricardo Sabatés, Centre for International Education
International Journal of Educational Development, Forthcoming
Abstract: Whether economic globalisation is associated with a narrowing or a widening of
the social class gap between the education and occupation expectations of Sri Lankan youth
is examined through a test of four hypotheses.
Methodologically the study employs the estimated parameters from a system of seemingly
unrelated equations for testing hypotheses. Youth expectations for education and
occupation are higher than those of their parents when youth. Social class effects vary
among youth and fathers and mothers when youth. The occupational expectations of youth
show a widening gap between the middle and low social classes. In all other comparisons,
the gaps are positive, indicating a widening, but none attains statistical significance.
Causal explanations are explored and the implications for future investigations are
identified.
Migration and Endogamy According to Social Class: France, 1803–1986
Jean-Pierre Pélissier , Danielè Rébaudo , Marco H.D. van Leeuwen and Ineke
Maas
International Review of Social History (2005), 50:219-246 Cambridge University Press
Abstract: Does intra-national migration matter for partner choice? A number of conflicting
hypotheses on the effects of migration on the likelihood of endogamy according to social
class of origin are formulated and tested on the French historical record over the past
two centuries. We conclude that migrants were less likely to marry endogamously,
especially if they migrated from rural villages to cities; this is explained mainly by the
fact that they thereby escaped the social pressure of their parents and peers and met more
people from different social backgrounds. Contrary to what we expected, the relationships
between migration characteristics and endogamy changed hardly at all over the two
centuries. We also investigated whether temporal differences in endogamy could be
explained partly by changes in migration patterns. We found that they could. The increase
in the number of men and women living in or moving to cities was one particularly
important cause of the decreasing likelihood of endogamy. Finally, we were interested in
the possible bias in regional studies on endogamy. Our results show that this bias is
especially large if these regions include only rural areas or cities. This is because the
likelihood of endogamy differs between rural areas and cities, and is also especially low
for people who move between these two types of region.
The Cultures of Social Class and Religious Educational Practice
Author: Katherine Turpin
Religious Education, Volume 104, Issue 3 May 2009 , pages 315 - 331
Abstract: Although social class impacts the assumptions, values, and normative practices
of Religious Education, the lack of public discourse on class diminishes awareness of and
critical reflection on this impact. This article describes social class as a largely
unarticulated and embodied performance of identity inflected through hierarchical
practices of race, gender, and commodity consumption. The author provides examples of the
impact of social-class bias on the practice of Religious Education in the context of youth
ministry.
Ethnic and social class factors in residential segregation: some implications for
dispersal
T R Lee
Environment and Planning 5(4) 477 – 490
Abstract. Although the social class characteristics of coloured immigrants in Britain are
clearly defined, and while social class groups within the majority population display
distinctive spatial patterns, very little recognition of the role of social class has been
incorporated into studies of immigrant concentration and dispersal. This paper seeks to
evaluate the spatial constraints on the dispersal of West Indians in London which are
imposed by social class segregation within the wider population.
How Social Class Differences Affect Students' Experience of University
RICHARD COOKE1; MICHAEL BARKHAM1; KERRY AUDIN1; MARGARET BRADLEY1
Journal of Further and Higher Education, Volume 28, Number 4, 2004 , pp. 407-421(15)
Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group
Abstract: The present paper outlines the experiences reported by students from different
social class backgrounds who have recently graduated from university. Students from manual
skilled and partly skilled backgrounds were classed as disadvantaged, while students from
professional or intermediate backgrounds were classed as advantaged. Data were collected
from the same cohort of students on seven occasions across their university career.
Students completed questions about their family background, paid employment, financial
concerns, participation in recreational activities, perceptions of academic quality and
perceptions of social support. Results showed that students from disadvantaged backgrounds
were less likely to have parents that attended university, more likely to have been in
paid employment, less likely to have participated in non-academic activities and spent
fewer evenings per week socializing compared with students from advantaged backgrounds.
Also, there was some evidence of less positive perceptions of social support among
disadvantaged students. However, there were no social class differences in ratings of
teaching quality and all students reported high levels of financial concern. These
findings are discussed in relation to proposed changes to the way higher education is
funded in Britain and the implications these changes will have on recruiting students from
disadvantaged backgrounds.
Social class differences in social support among older adults
N Krause and E Borawski-Clark
Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, School of
Public Health, Ann Arbor 48109, USA.
The Gerontologist, Vol 35, Issue 4 498-508, Copyright © 1995 by The Gerontological
Society of America
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to test for social class differences in social
support among older adults. Data on a comprehensive range of social support measures
provided by a nationwide sample of elderly people suggests that social class differences
emerge when measures of contact with friends, support provided to others, and satisfaction
with support are examined. However, significant differences fail to emerge with indicators
of contact with family, support received from others, and negative interaction.
The influence of social class background on childhood sport involvement.
Hasbrook, C. A.
Abstract: Two theoretical constructs of social class: life chances-economic opportunity
set; and life-styles-social psychological opportunity set were operationalized within the
context of sport participation and tested to determine how well they explain the social
class/sport participation linkage. Life chances or the distribution of material goods and
services consisted of the availability/usage of sport equipment, facilities/club
memberships, and instruction/programmes. Life styles or values, beliefs and practices
consisted of selected parental achievement and gender-role socialization practices that
encourage, fail to encourage, or discourage sport participation. Results indicated that
social class and gender interact such that degree of sport participation is stratified
along social class lines for females but transcends the social structure for males. No
linkage was found between kind of sport participation, as indicated by either the
team/combative versus individual/dual nature of a sport or by the expense of participation
in a sport, and the social class background of its participants. Life chances explained a
significant portion of the degree of sport participation/social class linkage among male
and female non-athletes but did not explain the relationship among female athletes. Life
styles did not explain a significant portion of the sport/class linkage.
Embodying social class - The link between poverty, income inequality and health
Stephen M. Rose, School of Social Work at the University of New England, 716
Stevens Ave, Portland, ME 04103, USA, srose@une.edu
Stephanie Hatzenbuehler, School of Social Work at the University of New England
International Social Work, Vol. 52, No. 4, 459-471 (2009) DOI: 10.1177/0020872809104250
Abstract: Poverty, income inequality and the inequitable distribution of health invariably
co-occur. The strength of the relationship between wealth and health holds even in
countries with universal health care. A systematic literature review describes pathways
from inequality of wealth to embodied diseases. The significance for social policy and
social work practice is developed.
The relationship between social class and childrearing behaviors: parents'
perspective taking and value orientations
Dekovic, Maja, Gerris, Jan R.M., Janssens, Jan M.A.M.
National Council of Family Relations,
Journal of Marriage and the Family
Abstract: Researchers developed a model to give insight into the relationship between
social class and parenting behaviors. Application of the model to a sample of 237 parents
supports the hypothesis that parental perspective taking is an influential variable in the
relationship between social class and childrearing behavior, and that parental value
orientations are not causally related to childrearing behavior. The study revealed that
parental perspective mediates between social class and childrearing behavior whilst also
influencing parental value orientation.
Social Class Influences on Black American Ideological Beliefs from 1980 to 2003
(Poster)
Destin, Mesmin. and Griffin, Tiffany
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the ISPP 31st Annual Scientific Meeting.
Abstract: Social class differences in the ideological orientations of Black Americans have
been examined empirically over the past fifty years (e.g., Frazier, 1957; Hwang,
Fitzpatrick, & Helms, 1998; Kilson, 1983; Pettigrew, 1981; Wilson, 1978). Several
researchers have investigated Wilson’s (1978) controversial declaration of a
declining significance of race in the ideological beliefs of Black Americans. In the
current analysis, we apply Wilson’s hypothesis to an investigation of Black
Americans’ social psychological and structural conditions from 1980 to 2003. We use
representative samples of Black Americans in the National Survey of Black Americans (1980)
and the National Survey of American Life (2003). Findings support the prediction that the
increased mobility for some Black Americans, along with persistent poverty for others, has
translated into heightened economic inequality, increased social distance, decreased
cohesiveness, and systematic distinctions in political ideology among Black Americans over
time. Although the generally liberal political orientations among Black Americans
continues to receive both theoretical and empirical support (e.g.Tate, 1994), social class
also appears to significantly contribute to secular trends in political beliefs. Changes
over this twenty-five year period do not overwhelm the consistent liberal orientation of
Black American populations toward social policies, but upper class Black Americans do show
a significantly more conservative general political orientation. Together these analyses
suggest that the qualitatively different experiences of relatively high and low
socio-economic status Black Americans over the last quarter of the 20th century may have
contributed to a growing significance of social class in demarcating different ideological
positions among the population.
Social Class and Undergraduate Degree Subject in the UK
Massimiliano Bratti
Università degli Studi di Milano - DEAS; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
IZA Discussion Paper No. 1979
Abstract: Although past research has found strong social class effects on the decision to
undertake higher education in the UK, there is only sparse empirical work investigating
social class influences on the choice of degree subject at the undergraduate level. Using
Universities' Statistical Record data for the period 1981-1991, we find no social class
effect on students' undergraduate degree subjects enrolled. Our analysis suggests that in
a period pre-dating the mass expansion of higher education, the replacement of student
grants with student loans and the introduction of undergraduate student tuition fees, the
UK university system granted equal opportunities to students from different social classes
in terms of the degree subject enrolled.
Reducing Racial And Social-Class Inequalities In Health: The Need For A New
Approach
S. Leonard Syme
Health Affairs, 27, no. 2 (2008): 456-459 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.27.2.456
It is well known that people in racial and ethnic minority groups and in lower
social-class positions have higher morbidity and mortality rates from virtually every
disease. To effectively deal with the problem, we will need to adopt a more appropriate
conceptual model that focuses on the fundamental determinants of health, we will need to
understand how important this is for all Americans as a society, and we will need to
better deal with the issues people care about: their children, homes, jobs, safety,
education, families, retirement, and future prospects.
Inequalities in health related to social class in women: What is the effect of the
measure used
BORRELL, Carme; ROHLFS, Izabella; ARTAZCOZ, Lucía and MUNTANER, Carles.
Gaceta Sanitaria, Gac Sanit [online]. 2004, vol.18, suppl.2, pp. 75-82. ISSN 0213-9111.
doi: 10.1590/S0213-91112004000800010.
Abstract: Classical theories of social stratification share the assumption that the family
is the unit of stratification, using the man's occupation as a measure of social class.
These theories were criticized by feminism, which claimed that women were not visible in
class analysis. The present article aims firstly to review measurement of women's social
class, secondly to review studies on the impact of different measures of social class on
inequalities in health among women, and thirdly to illustrate the differences among
alternative measures, using data from the Barcelona Health Interview Survey 2000 as an
example. There are few studies analyzing inequalities in health among women that take into
account several measures of social class; most studies have been performed in the United
Kingdom, although some studies have been conducted in other countries. Typically, these
studies compare several social class indicators: the «conventional social class»
measure, which uses the husband's occupation or tal of the head of household (a household
measure); the «individual social class» measure, which uses women's occupation, and the
«dominant social class» measure, which allocates an individual the highest social class
within a household (also a household measure). The impact of the various measures on
inequalities in health varies according to the study performed, but is usually greater
with the conventional and dominant approaches. Data from the Health Interview Survey of
Barcelona 2000 show the existence of inequalities in health using these three approaches,
with varied impact according to the health indicators used and women's characteristics.
The «dominant social class» measure has several advantages: it is gender-blind and is
not sexist. When the dominant social class is a less privileged class (i.e. manual
laborer) it means that both partners have an occupation equal to or lower than this
measure. Finally, this indicator is easily obtained.
Social class in childhood and general health in adulthood: questionnaire study of
contribution of psychological attributes
Hans Bosma, senior researcher, H Dike van de Mheen, senior researcher, Johan P
Mackenbach, professor.
Erasmus University Rotterdam, Department of Public Health, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam,
Netherlands
BMJ 1999;318:18-22 ( 2 January )
Objective: To determine the contribution of psychological attributes (personality
characteristics and coping styles) to the association between social class in childhood
and adult health among men and women.
Design: Partly retrospective, partly cross sectional study conducted in the framework of
the Dutch GLOBE study.
Subjects: Sample of general population from south east Netherlands consisting of 2174 men
and women aged 25-74 years. Baseline self reported data from 1991 provided information on
childhood and adult social class, psychological attributes, and general health.
Main outcome measure: Self rated poor health.
Results: Independent of adult social class, low childhood social class was related to self
rated poor health (odds ratio 1.67 (95% confidence interval 1.02 to 2.75) for subjects
whose fathers were unskilled manual workers versus subjects whose fathers were higher
grade professionals). Subjects whose fathers were manual workers generally had more
unfavourable personality profiles and more negative coping styles. External locus of
control, neuroticism, and the absence of active problem focused coping explained about
half of the association between childhood social class and self rated poor health. The
findings were independent of adult social class and height.
Conclusions: A higher prevalence of negative personality profiles and adverse coping
styles in subjects who grew up in lower social classes explains part of the association
between social class in childhood and adult health. This finding underlines the importance
of psychological mechanisms in the examination of the negative effects of adverse
socioeconomic conditions in childhood.
Social Class and Ageing Bodies: Understanding Physical Activity in Later Life
Alex Dumasa and Suzanne Labergeb
Social Theory & Health (2005) 3, 183–205. doi:10.1057/palgrave.sth.8700056
Abstract: In most Western societies, chronic illness is an increasingly important health
issue among older populations. In response, public health agencies have advocated physical
activity as a strategy to improve the quality of life of older adults. At present, little
is known about the processes that lead to an active or sedentary lifestyle in later life.
This study is based on an analysis of data collected for a broader Canadian study on older
women, physical activity and health. This paper examines dispositions to adopt physical
activity across three periods in life (youth, adulthood and later life) of two groups of
older women in highly contrasting living conditions. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's
socio-cultural theory of practice, this qualitative analysis of 51 interviews revealed
that social and biological living conditions must be taken into account to understand the
fashioning of health dispositions. A major finding was that although dispositions towards
physical activity differed greatly between the two groups during youth and adulthood, they
tended to be more alike in the later phase of life. Bourdieu's theory was useful both in
understanding how social class and age are important structuring principles of health
behaviour in later life, and in conceptualizing the shifting effects of structural
inequalities on health dispositions in life.
Class Struggle In A Moscow Metal Factory
Rethinking
Class
Social Class Differences in Discourse
Working-Class History of the Americas
Race Class and Gender in the US
Social Inequality Patterns and Processes
Stratification in the United States
Social Inequalities in Comparative Perspective
Social Class in the Context of Education
“In How Class Works Aronowitz argues for the enduring vitality of the concept of social class as a way of understanding social relations. This is a significant contribution to social theory, an argument certain to be widely considered, debated, and tested.” --George Lipsitz