Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective

The study of poverty and inequality has been thrust into the foreground as scholars, politicians, and policymakers respond to the spectacular increase in economic inequality and the slowing, stalling out, or even reversal of long-standing downward trends in other forms of inequality. A mainstay of the field for more than a decade, Social Stratification has now been fully updated and revised with additional readings and newly commissioned pieces, all from top scholars of poverty and inequality. This collection reflects ongoing changes in the structure of inequality and in the tools and concepts that have been used to understand these changes. Oriented toward the advanced student, Social Stratification provides a demanding, comprehensive, no-holds-barred overview of classic and contemporary scholarship. The history of the field unfolds systematically from the early and modern classics to the cutting-edge scholarship that currently drives the field. The resulting collection, even more comprehensive and diverse than its predecessor, can be used as a stand-alone text for courses on stratification, poverty, and inequality, as well as occupations, labor markets, and social mobility.