Redrawing the Class Map Stratification and Institutions in Britain, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland

by Oesch, Daniel

• ISBN13: 9781403985910
• ISBN10: 140398591X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-08-22
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Have de-industrialization, expanding services and occupational upgrading put an end to class divisions? Drawing on extensive empirical research, this book adds new insights to the debate about the end of class and shows that Western European societies remain decidedly stratified with respect to material advantages and citizenship rights. Well grounded in theory, it offers a highly original account of today's social stratification and presents novel findings about working conditions, political preferences and pension coverage of different classes in contemporary Britain, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland.

Author Biography

DANIEL OESCH is Researcher in the Department of Political Science at the University of Geneva, and Consultant of the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions in Bern, Switzerland.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	ix
List of Figures	xii
Preface	xiv
Introduction	1	(8)
Part I Labour Market Trends and the Theory of a New Class Schema	9	(64)
1 Class Theorists and the Debate about the End of Class	11	(16)
2 Three Labour Market Trends and their Impact on the Employment Structure	27	(13)
3 Women, the Manual/Non-Manual Divide and the Working Class	40	(11)
4 Horizontal Divisions within the Middle Class	51	(8)
5 The Construction Logic of a New Class Schema	59	(14)
Part II An Empirical Analysis of Employment Stratification	73	(62)
6 Operationalization of the New Class Schema	75	(10)
7 The Class Structure of Britain, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland	85	(9)
8 The Distribution of Advantage within the Class Schema: Work Income and Promotion Prospects	94	(13)
9 Structural Divisions within the Class Schema: Firm Size, Public Sector Employment and Party Support	107	(17)
10 Collapsed Versions of the Detailed Class Schema	124	(11)
Part III Class and the Concept of Institutional Embeddedness	135	(74)
11 Introducing Institutions: the Concept of Institutional Embeddedness	137	(7)
12 Class Differences in Pension System Integration	144	(16)
13 Class Differences in Trade Union Membership	160	(19)
14 Class Differences in Political Citizenship and Electoral Participation	179	(18)
15 Cumulative Differences in Institutional Embeddedness	197	(12)
Concluding Summary	209	(13)
Statistical Annexe	222	(10)
Notes	232	(7)
References	239	(15)
Index	254