First published in 1976, the essays in this volume are concerned with the distribution of income and wealth. The papers were first presented at the Royal Economic Society's conference in 1974, which examined the evidence concerning the personal distribution of earnings, compared the distributions apparent in different periods and societies, and studied the association between personal attributes and income. The contributions, from internationally-renowned authors, reflect these areas, and address the questions surrounding inequality, the taxation of wealth and capital transfers that remain relevant in twenty-first century society.

Originally published in 1915, this pioneer study has long occupied an important place in the literature of sociology. An exercise in the statistical correlation of the economic and social institutions of the working classes of the early twentieth century, the book is an important link between contemporary sociology, with a focus on the problems of social development, and the classical social liberalism on which L. T. Hobhouse left his mark. The reissue includes the introduction written by Morris Ginsberg in the 1965 reprint, where he explains what he and his colleagues set out to achieve and responds to the criticism faced by the study. This is a classic work which is still of great value to sociologists and anthropologists today.

Authored by a stellar line-up of top China scholars from the US, Europe, Australia and China. Interdisciplinary in approach, so will appeal to courses on Chinese society, politics and history. Writing style is excellent and the chapters are truly connected due to the bok being co-authored.

Academic interest in cycling has burgeoned in recent years with significant literature relating to the health and environmental benefits of cycling, the necessity for cycle-specific infrastructure, and the embodied experiences of cycling. Based upon primary research in a variety of contexts such as London, Shanghai and Taipei, this book demonstrates that recent developments in urban cycling policy and practice are closely linked to broader processes of capital accumulation. It argues that cycling is increasingly caught up in discourses around smart cities that emphasise technological solutions to environmental problems and neoliberal ideas on individual responsibility and bio-political conduct, which only results in solutions that prioritise those who are already mobile. Accordingly, the central argument of the book is not that the popularisation of cycling is inherently bad, but that the manner in which cycling is being popularised gives cause for social and environmental concern. Ultimately the book argues that cycling has now become a vehicle for sustaining pro-growth agendas rather than subverting them or shifting to sustainable no-growth/de-growth and less technologically driven visions of modernity. This book makes an innovative contribution to the fields of Cycling Studies, Mobilities and Transport and will be of interest to students and academics working in Human Geography, Transport Studies, Urban Studies, Urban Planning, Public Policy, Sociology and Sustainability.

First published in 2013. How can we define working class culture? Since the late 1950s, the term has become more complex, because of both social changes and intense debates about the meaning of 'culture'. Through this collection of original case studies and theoretical essays, the authors explore some central problems in the field. The first part of the book provides a unique critical review of existing literature, focusing on two main traditions of writing about the working class. Examining the empirical sociology tradition, the authors analyse a group of books from the post-war debate about affluence and its immediate aftermath. In looking at the related tradition of working class historiography, they examine the origins of social and labour history from the 1880s up to the 1960s, and conclude by discussing some of the dilemmas of history writing in the 1970s. Part two is a series of case studies which span the whole period that a working class has existed, with emphasis on the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and which examine the most important spheres of working class life: politics, education, youth, recreation, waged and domestic labour. Part three returns to some of the problems raised in part one, considering three main ways in which working class culture can be understood, through the problematics of 'consciousness', 'culture' or 'ideology', and examining the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. The authors argue for a more fruitful and developed way of thinking about working class culture, and suggest some guidelines for a history of the post-war working class.

In Victorian England, the perception of girlhood arose not in isolation, but as one manifestation of the prevailing conception of femininity. Examining the assumptions that underlay the education and upbringing of middle-class girls, this book is also a study of the learning of gender roles in theory and reality. It was originally published in 1982. The first two sections examine the image of women in the Victorian family, and the advice offered in printed sources on the rearing of daughters during the Victorian period. To illustrate the effect and evolution of feminine ideals over the Victorian period, the book's final section presents the actual experiences of several middle-class Victorian women who represent three generations and range, socioeconomically, from lower-middle class through upper-middle class.

Social class has been at the forefront of sociological theories of crime from their inception. It is explicitly central to some theories such as anomie/strain and conflict, and nips aggressively at the periphery of others such as social control theory. Yet none of these theories engage in a systematic exploration of what social class is, how individuals come to be placed in one rung of the class ladder rather than another, or the precise nature of the class-crime relationship. This book avers that the same factors that help to determine a person's class level also help to determine that person's risk for committing criminal acts. Social class is a modern outcome of primordial status-striving and requires explanation using the modern tools of genetics, neurobiology, and evolutionary biology, and this is what this book does. Many aspects of criminal behavior can be understood by examining the shared factors that lead to the success or failure in the workplace and to pro- or antisocial activities. A biosocial approach requires reducing sociology's "master variable" to a lower level analysis to examine its constituent parts, which is resisted by many criminologists as highly controversial. However, this book makes plain that the more we know about the nature side of behavior the more important we find the nurture side to be. It makes clear how the class/crime relationship and criminology in general, can benefit from the biosocial perspective; a perspective that many criminological luminaries expect to be the dominant paradigm for the twenty first century.

The research presented in this book explores the formation of the middle class in contemporary urban China. Including case studies on middle-class professionals living in Beijing, this book analyses how social and economic changes to Chinese society create a middle-class lifestyle and new forms of distinction with a particular focus on the social construction of identity. Looking through the lens of individuals' perception of life trajectories and ideological taxonomies generated within the framework of post-Maoist China, the book uncovers the role that the Chinese middle-class play in a state-sponsored discourse and where the distinctions identifying the middle-class lifestyle produce inequality, transfer privilege, and disadvantage in contemporary urban China. It goes on to question hegemonic discourses on class, arguing that a middle-class identity is progressively constructed in urban China not only though consumption practices, but through the experience of non-individualistic activities in both the public and private spheres. Analyzing how social distinctions are performed contributes to the understanding of the Chinese middle-class pre-pandemic, as well as the continual challenges this social group shall face in the years to come. As such, this is a must read for those interested in the Chinese middle-class, Chinese politics, and gender studies.

This accessible introductory text offers an engaging and thought-provoking discussion of class in relation to several cultural, sociological and political schools of thought and draws upon the works of a broad range of key theorists as well as contemporary thinkers to restate the ongoing importance of class as a sociological concept. Class has long been a key focus of sociological and political studies. This book explores what it might mean today in a 21st century context. Is class really disappearing? Is class morally justifiable? What impact has globalisation and neoliberalism had on the restructuring of class-based social relationships? These questions and others are explored in this short but lively book. Stevenson reviews a number of normative traditions including anarchist, Marxist, social democratic and citizenship-based forms of understanding of class in order to shed light on the themes of class-based experiences, health and inequality, work, class struggle, social movements and the possibility of developing more egalitarian and just societies in the future. This short book will be invaluable to general readers and students in the humanities and social sciences seeking an accessible introduction to the central problems raised by discussions of class in the 21st century.

While recent studies have highlighted the phenomenon and risks of increased inequalities between the top and the bottom of society, little research has so far been carried out on trends relating to the median income range that generally represents the middle class. This volume examines the following questions: what are the main transformations in the world of work over the last 20 years in terms of the labour market, social dialogue and conditions of work, wages and incomes that may have affected the middle class? How has the middle class been shaped by the financial and economic crisis? What are the long-term trends for the middle class in Europe? This volume also investigates the potential risks and effects of the reshuffling, or even weakening, of the middle class. On the social side, it explores the ramifications of further retrenchment of the European Social Model, which to a great extent has traditionally been funded by the middle class. On the economic side, the book investigates whether this process - especially from the perspective of consumption and human capital - is endangering the long-term sustainability of the current economic model. While presenting evidence of a definite erosion of the middle class, this book assesses the specific situation in each individual EU Member State on the basis of detailed statistics and case studies of professional categories that traditionally represent the middle class. This book issues a timely warning about the latest trends and future of the middle class in Europe. On this basis, it presents policy considerations and options that will be useful to policy-makers for ensuring the future of the middle class in Europe. Scholars and researchers of European studies and social policy, especially from its sustainability perspective, will find the volume an invaluable reference. Contributors include: J.I. Anton, D. Anxo, T. Barbieri, G. Bosch, P. Courtioux, C. Erhel, K. Espenberg, A. Figueiredo, H. Figueiredo, S. Giakoumatos, P. Gonzalez, D. Grimshaw, T. Kalina, M. Karamessini, S. Kuypers, B. Maitre, N. Maitre, I. Marx, J. Masso, I. Mierina, R. Munoz-de-Bustillo Llorente, B. Nolan, A. Rafferty, W. Salverda, L.D. Santos, A. Simonazzi, I.G. Toth, D. Vaughan-Whitehead, R. Vazquez-Alvarez

This volume explores the lives and work of those who are kept out of poverty by their employment, but who occupy tenuous social positions and subaltern jobs. Presenting a score of household portraits - urban, suburban, and rural - the authors examine what it means to 'get by' in France today, considering the material and symbolic resources that these households can muster, and the practices that give meaning to their lives. With attention to their aspirations and disappointments - and their desire to be 'like everyone else' in a supposedly egalitarian society that nonetheless gives them little credit for their effort - this book offers a sociological interpretation of their situations, offering new insights into what it means to be 'working class' in a 21st-century post-industrial society. Combining statistical analyses with ethnographically-based examinations of how changes in the structure of the employment market relate to plans for upward mobility, Subaltern Workers in Contemporary France sheds light on the ways in which class identity - along with all its associated practices, tastes, and aspirations - has changed since the sociological classics on the working classes were published over half a century ago. As such, this book will appeal to sociologists with interests in the sociology of the family, social class, and the sociology of work.

COVID-19: Social Inequalities and Human Possibilities examines the unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals, communities, and countries, a fact seldom acknowledged and often suppressed or invisible. Taking a global approach, this book demonstrates how the impact of the pandemic has differed as a result of social inequalities, such as economic development, social class, race and ethnicity, sex and gener, age, and access to health care and education. Economic inequality between and within nations has significantly contributed to the chances of individuals contracting and dying from the virus. Developing nations with weak health care systems, workers whose jobs cannot be performed remotely, the differences between those with and without access to soap and water to wash their hands, or the ability to practice physical distancing also account for the unequal impact of the virus. Racial and ethnic minorities experience higher death rates from the virus, which has also unequally affected indigenous peoples and urban and foreign migrants around the world. Inequality is also embedded in national and international responses to the pandemic, as giving and receiving aid is often impacted by inequalities of demographic and national power and influence, resulting in national and global competition rather than the collaboration needed to end the pandemic. Along with the other titles in Routledge's COVID-19 Pandemic series, this book represents a timely and critical advance in knowledge related to what many believe to be the greatest threat to global ways of being in more than a century. COVID-19: Social Inequalities and Human Possibilities is therefore indispensable for academics, researchers, and students as well as activists and policy makers interested in understanding the social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and eradicating the inequalities it has exacerbated.

Few concepts are as central to sociology as institutions. Yet, like so many sociological concepts, institutions remain vaguely defined. This book expands a foundational definition of the institution, one which locates them as the basic building blocks of human societies-as structural and cultural machines for survival that make it possible to pass precious knowledge from one generation to the next, ensuring the survival of our species. The book extends this classic tradition by, first, applying advances in biological evolution, neuroscience, and primatology to explain the origins of human societies and, in particular, the first institutional sphere: kinship. The authors incorporate insights from natural sciences often marginalized in sociology, while highlighting the limitations of purely biogenetic, Darwinian explanations. Secondly, they build a vivid conceptual model of institutions and their central dynamics as the book charts the chronological evolution of kinship, polity, religion, law, and economy, discussing the biological evidence for the ubiquity of these institutions as evolutionary adaptations themselves.

Social Problems and Inequality explores integrated and root-cause-based explanations of complex social problems. Written in clear and understandable language, allowing it to be used for classroom purposes, it addresses the most fundamental principles of how humans, acting through social units, create, and eventually can remedy, social problems. With a central focus on the problem of inequality and the manner in which this is manifested in crime, social class and stratification, this book examines the key theoretical perspectives relevant to the study and solution of social problems, whilst drawing upon rich illustrations and case studies from the US and Europe to offer a thorough examination of the nature, common root causes and social remedies of social problems. Providing discussions of both theoretical approaches and concrete applications, Social Problems and Inequality investigates the sources of various prejudices and attitudes that contribute to social problems and the associated issues of globalization, economic greed and imperialism. Accessible in style and comprehensive in its coverage, this book will appeal to students and scholars of social problems across the social sciences.

In India, caste groups ensure their durability in an era of multiculturalism by officially representing caste as cultural difference or ethnicity rather than as unequal descent-based relations. Challenging dominant social theories of caste, this book addresses questions of how caste survives the system that gave rise to it and adapts to new demands of capitalism and democracy.

Based on original fieldwork, the book shows how the terrain of culture captured by a new grammar of caste revitalizes castes as cultural communities so that the culture of a caste is produced, organized and naturalized in the process of transforming jati (fetishized blood and kinship) into samaj (fetishized culture). Castes are shown to not be homogenous cultural wholes but sites of hegemony where class, gender and hierarchy over-determine the meanings and materiality of caste.

Arguing that there exists a new casteism in India akin to a new racism in the USA, built less on biology and descent and more on purported cultural differences and their rights to exist, the book presents an extended critique and a search for an alternative view of caste and anti-casteist politics. It is of interest to students and scholars of South Asian culture and society.

"Social Inequality -- examining our present while understanding our past
"
"Social Inequality and Social Statification in US Society, 1/e "includes three core tools (historical scope, qualitative data, and a conceptual framework) to explain social stratification and social inequality.
The historical scope gives context to each issue discussed, and allows the reader to understand how each topic has evolved over the course of American history. Qualitative data helps explain socioeconomic issues and connects related topics. A conceptual framework serves to analyze the impact of capital types throughout the text, and map the prospects for individuals, families, and classes to maintain or alter their position in social-stratification systems. Additional theories and concepts help to further analyze topics throughout the text. Learning Goals
Upon completing this book, readers should be able to:

• Analyze the four major American classes, as well as how race and gender link to inequalities in the United States
• Understand attempts to reduce social inequality
• Identify major historical events that have influenced current trends
• Understand how qualitative sources help reveal the inner workings that accompany people's struggles with the socioeconomic order, which are particularly helpful in displaying the complexity of intersectionality
• Recognize impacts on individuals, families, and also classes to maintain or alter their position in social-stratification systems

Note: MySearchLab does not come automatically packaged with this text. To purchase MySearchLab, you can purchase a ValuePack of the text + MySearchLab with Pearson eText (at no additional cost). ValuePack ISBN-10: 0205231675 / ValuePack ISBN-13: 9780205231676

First published in 1976, this book is concerned with the nature of classification in the social sciences. Its thesis is that classifications are dependent upon and are derived from theoretical explanations. Classification is not a theoretically neutral typification or ordering of social forms. This is because objects classified a " societies, social institutions a " are not given to knowledge independently of the categories which construct them and because the categories of classification are themselves the products of theories.

'Manufactured' Masculinity should be considered essential reading for scholars in the humanities and social sciences at every level and in all parts of the academic world. It weaves together brilliantly the elements of the 'manufacture' of masculinity in the period world-famous 'public' school system for the privileged which serviced the largest empire, the world has ever known, at the zenith of its control and which has had a significant influence in the formation of the modern world. This authoritative study of the making of British imperial masculinity shines light on the period of Muscular Christianity, Social Darwinism and Militarism as meshed ideological instruments of both power and persuasion.

This magisterial study reveals the extraordinary and paramount influence of games fields as the 'machine tools' in an 'industrial process' with the schools as 'workshops' containing 'cultural conveyor-belts' for the production of robust, committed and confident servants of empire, and templates for imperial reproduction in imperial possessions. Mainly on efficient 'production belt' playing fields of the privileged minds were moulded, attitudes were constructed and bodies shaped - for imperial manhood. Earlier 'manliness' was metamorphosized, morality was redefined and militarism at the high point of imperial grandeur was an adjunct. Professor Mangan outlines this unique process of cultural conditioning with a unique range of evidence and analysis.

This book was published as a special double issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.

First published in 1975, Robber Noblemen represents a break with traditional anthropological studies within the Indian subcontinent in the breadth of its coverage. A whole state, the Punjab, is discussed, with special reference to the social and political organization of its landowning Sikhs: the Jats. Joyce Pettigrew demonstrates that although the Punjab is included within the formal political framework of the Indian Union, it is nevertheless more closely allied to countries on its western border, by virtual of its social structure and value system. The caste system does not exist among the Sikhs. Values sustaining patterns of social and political action are not those pertaining to ritual purity and pollution but are those concerned with the extended family unit: honour, reputation, insult. The author shows how long-standing collaborative relationships between families compete with other similarly formed alliances or 'factions' for power and influence. This book will be of interest to students of anthropology, history, political science and South Asian studies.

This is the first book to explore the phenomenon of glamour and celebrity in contemporary Russian culture, ranging across media forms, disciplinary boundaries and modes of inquiry, with particular emphasis on the media personality. The book demonstrates how the process of 'celebrification' in Russia coincides with the dizzying pace of social change and economic transformation, the latter enabling an unprecedented fascination with glamour and its requisite extravagance; how in the 1990s and 2000s, celebrities - such as film or television stars - moved away from their home medium to become celebrities straddling various media; and how celebrity is a symbol manipulated by the dominant culture and embraced by the masses. It examines the primacy of the visual in celebrity construction and its dominance over the verbal, alongside the interdisciplinary, cross-media, post-Soviet landscape of today's fame culture. Taking into account both general tendencies and individual celebrities, including pop-diva Alla Pugacheva and ex-President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the book analyses the internal dynamics of the institutions involved in the production, marketing, and maintenance of celebrities, as well as the larger cultural context and the imperatives that drive Russian society's romance with glamour and celebrity.

Heritage, Labour and the Working Classes is both a celebration and commemoration of working class culture. It contains sometimes inspiring accounts of working class communities and people telling their own stories, and weaves together examples of tangible and intangible heritage, place, history, memory, music and literature.

Rather than being framed in a 'social inclusion' framework, which sees working class culture as a deficit, this book addresses the question "What is labour and working class heritage, how does it differ or stand in opposition to dominant ways of understanding heritage and history, and in what ways is it used as a contemporary resource?" It also explores how heritage is used in working class communities and by labour organizations, and considers what meanings and significance this heritage may have, while also identifying how and why communities and their heritage have been excluded. Drawing on new scholarship in heritage studies, social memory, the public history of labour, and new working class studies, this volume highlights the heritage of working people, communities and organizations. Contributions are drawn from a number of Western countries including the USA, UK, Spain, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand, and from a range of disciplines including heritage and museum studies, history, sociology, politics, archaeology and anthropology.

Heritage, Labour and the Working Classes represents an innovative and useful resource for heritage and museum practitioners, students and academics concerned with understanding community heritage and the debate on social inclusion/exclusion. It offers new ways of understanding heritage, its values and consequences, and presents a challenge to dominant and traditional frameworks for understanding and identifying heritage and heritage making.

Rising exclusion rates indicate the continuing marginalisation of many young people in education in the UK. Working-class boys, children living in poverty, and children with additional/special educational needs are among those experiencing a disproportionate rate of exclusion. This book traces the processes of exclusion and alienation from school and relates this to a changing social and economic context. Jean Kane argues that policy on schooling, including curricular reform, needs to be re-connected to the broad political pursuit of social justice, and presents compelling case studies of excluded pupils, showing the multi-faceted identities of pupils, with a particular focus on masculine and feminine identities. This invaluable contribution to the literature offers an alternative analysis where the social identities of pupils are shown to be tied up with their exclusion from school. Themes investigated include: the meanings of school exclusions social class, gender and schooling social identities of excluded pupils negotiating identities in school: moving towards exclusion exclusions and young people's lives improving participation in schooling. Providing fascinating reading for teachers, social workers, researchers and policy-makers this book considers how educational disadvantage might be addressed through recognition of the gender and class identities of pupils.

The great issues and conflicts of the early seventeenth century were played out not only on the stages of the Court and Parliament, and, latterly, on the battlefield, but within the confines of the family. Originally published in 1984, in this pioneering study of the Verney family, based on more than 10,000 family letters and papers, Professor Miriam Slater shows how a family of country gentry lived and behaved in a time of political and social crisis. Most of their energies were directed within the family, their concerns with marriage and children, with relationships between members of the Verney clan, with managing their estates and property. They emerge as real people with passions and hatreds, made to live their lives by correspondence when the head of the family was forced to live abroad as an exile and casualty of the political tumults. But their misfortunes have created a unique archive which allows the author to delve deep into the very heart of their personal lives, and to create an extraordinary collective portrait of a family in times of troubles. Professor Slater describes and analyses the way in which Verney family members actually treated each other, and gives an account of their ideas - on marriage, from both the male and female points of view; on the roles of children and parents; on the relationships among adult siblings; on the place of servants within the family. She offers a detailed and systematic examination of family psychological dynamics, and the values, attitudes and goals which affected individual behaviour. She also moves beyond individual idiosyncrasies by linking the nature of personal interaction within the family to the wider social structures of the society, including laws of inheritance, patriarchal control, the different treatment of men and women, and financial arrangements and family strategies.

Originally published in 1974, the conclusions of the book are based on intensive field-work during 1963-66 in a village in south-east Rajasthan, India. Although the marriages of 158 boys and 163 girls were studied, the relevance of the conclusions drawn extends far beyond the village and its region since it reveals the changing themes and values in Indian society at the time. The perceptive analysis of rites and ceremonies of marriage further illuminates the central problem of the book - how the themes of the Dharmasastras are interpreted and acted upon in village life and what kinds of reinforcements and incentives to change they provide to the various units of social structure. The author contends that the series of marriage rites manifest the continuity of tradition, a ritual epitomisation of caste interdependence and means of systematic social advancement. At the time ritual idioms and patterns of social exchange were beginning to change, more often in observance than in content. Traditional sources of status aggrandisement continued to provide new pathways to the forces of modernisation and unveil several clues to the innovative strategies of change. This scholarly study filled the need for a realistic appraisal of the relationship between marriage practices, religious values and the changing social structure.

Outstanding Academic Title, Choice magazine The health care system in the United States has been called the best in the world. Yet wide health disparities persist between different social groups, and many Americans suffer from poorer health than people in other developed countries. Donald A. Barr's Health Disparities in the United States explores how socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity interact with socioeconomic inequality to create and perpetuate these health disparities. Examining the significance of this gulf for the medical community, cultural subsets, and society at large, Barr offers potential policy- and physician-based solutions for reducing health inequity in the long term. This popular course book, which has been fully updated, now incorporates significant new material, including a chapter on the profound effects of inequality on child development, behavioral choices, and adult health status. An essential text for courses in public health, health policy, and sociology, the second edition analyzes the complex web of social forces that influence health outcomes in the United States. This book is a vital teaching tool and a comprehensive reference for social science and medical professionals.