American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality : A New Synthesis

by GILBERT

• ISBN13: 9780534541101
• ISBN10: 0534541100
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-27
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

The text is a current, concise treatment of America's ever-changing class structure. Updated throughout, this sixth edition focuses on change. Dennis Gilbert includes new data on topics such as the distribution of earnings and residential segregation by class to reveal a consistent pattern of growing inequality since the early 1970s. Why, Gilbert asks, is this happening? He examines change in the economy, family life, and politics in search of an answer. This book retains the strengths that contributed to the success of previous editions. It synthesizes the best empirical studies of class and inequality in American society, focusing on nine key variables: occupation, income, wealth, prestige, association, socialization, class consciousness, power, and social mobility. Critical attention is given to major studies, from the classic small-town ethnographies of the 1930s to contemporary analyses of national mobility data. Historical sections show how the class system has changed and continues to evolve. Two strong chapters examine the relationship between social class and politics.

Author Biography

Dennis Gilbert is Professor of Sociology at Hamilton College.

Table of Contents

The Dimensions of Class	1	(24)
Karl Marx	3	(4)
Max Weber	7	(4)
Nine Variables	11	(2)
The Variables as a System	13	(1)
What Are Social Classes?	14	(2)
An American Class Structure	16	(3)
Is the American Class Structure Changing?	19	(1)
Conclusion	19	(3)
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary	22	(1)
Suggested Readings	22	(2)
Position and Prestige	24	(21)
Prestige Classes in Yankee City	26	(2)
W. Lloyd Warner
Prestige Class as a Concept	28	(1)
How Many Classes?	29	(3)
Class Structure of the Metropolis	32	(5)
Prestige of Occupation	37	(3)
Occupations and Social Classes	40	(1)
Conclusion: Perception of Rank and Strata	40	(3)
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary	43	(1)
Suggested Readings	43	(2)
Social Class, Occupation, and Social Change	45	(38)
Middletown: 1890 and 1924	46	(2)
Middletown Revisited	48	(3)
Industrialization and the Transformation of the National Class Structure	51	(1)
The National Upper Class	52	(2)
The Industrial Working Class	54	(3)
The New Middle Class	57	(1)
National Occupational System	58	(3)
The Transformations of the American Occupational Structure	61	(2)
From Agricultural to Postindustrial Society	63	(4)
Women Workers in Postindustrial Society	67	(2)
Transformation of the Black Occupational Structure	69	(3)
Wages in the Age of Growing Inequality	72	(2)
Growing Inequality of Wages: Why?	74	(3)
Harrison and Bluestone: New Corporate Strategies	77	(1)
Frank and Cook: Winner Take All	78	(2)
Conclusion	80	(1)
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary	81	(1)
Suggested Readings	81	(2)
Wealth and Income	83	(28)
The Income Parade	84	(4)
Lessons from the Parade	88	(2)
The Distribution of Income	90	(2)
Sources of Income	92	(1)
Income Shares	93	(1)
Taxes and Transfers: The Government as Robin Hood?	94	(3)
How Many Poor?	97	(1)
Women and the Distribution of Household Income	97	(2)
The Distribution of Wealth	99	(2)
Trends in the Distribution of Wealth	101	(1)
Trends in the Distribution of Income	102	(3)
Income Dynamics	105	(1)
News from Another Planet	106	(1)
Changing Federal Tax Rates	107	(1)
Conclusion	108	(1)
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary	109	(1)
Suggested Readings	109	(2)
Socialization, Association, Lifestyles, and Values	111	(29)
Children's Conception of Social Class	112	(1)
Kohn: Class and Socialization	113	(4)
School and Marriage	117	(2)
Marriage Styles	119	(4)
Blue-Collar Marriages and Middle-Class Models	123	(4)
Social Class and Domestic Violence	127	(2)
Informal Association Among Adults	129	(4)
Formal Associations	133	(1)
Separate Lives	134	(3)
Conclusion	137	(1)
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary	138	(1)
Suggested Readings	138	(2)
Social Mobility: The Structural Context	140	(14)
How Much Mobility?	142	(2)
Social Mobility of Women	144	(2)
Causes of Mobility	146	(1)
Trends in Social Mobility	147	(4)
Trends in Black Mobility	151	(1)
Conclusion	152	(1)
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary	153	(1)
Suggested Readings	153	(1)
Family, Education, and Career	154	(19)
Blau and Duncan: Analyzing Mobility Models	156	(4)
Jencks on Equality	160	(4)
Who Goes to College?	164	(4)
College and the Careers of Women and Minorities	168	(2)
Conclusion	170	(1)
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary	171	(1)
Suggested Readings	171	(2)
Elites, the Capitalist Class, and Political Power	173	(34)
Three Perspectives on Power	174	(1)
Mills: The National Power Elite	175	(2)
Mills, His Critics, and the Problem of Elite Cohesion	177	(3)
Pluralism, Strategic Elites, and Cohesion	180	(3)
Power Elite or Ruling Class?	183	(1)
The National Capitalist Class: Economic Basis	184	(5)
The National Capitalist Class: Social Basis	189	(3)
The National Capitalist Class: Participation in Government	192	(3)
Money and Politics	195	(4)
Business Lobbies	199	(1)
Policy-Planning Groups	200	(1)
Indirect Mechanisms of Capitalist-Class Influence	201	(2)
The Capitalist-Class Resurgence	203	(1)
Conclusion	204	(1)
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary	205	(1)
Suggested Readings	206	(1)
Class Consciousness and Class Conflict	207	(29)
Marx and the Origins of Class Consciousness	209	(2)
Richard Centers and Class Identification	211	(1)
Correlates of Class Identification	212	(1)
Married Women and Class Identification	213	(1)
Class Identification, Political Opinion, and Voting	214	(1)
Bott: Frames of Reference	215	(2)
Elections and the Democratic Class Struggle	217	(4)
Social Class and Support for Social Programs	221	(1)
Class and Political Participation	221	(2)
Trends in Class Partisanship	223	(1)
Class Conflict and the Labor Movement	224	(4)
The Postwar Armistice	228	(2)
Labor in Decline	230	(3)
Conclusion	233	(2)
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary	235	(1)
Suggested Readings	235	(1)
The Poor, the Underclass, and Public Policy	236	(31)
The Beginnings of Welfare: Roosevelt	238	(1)
Rediscovery of Poverty: Kennedy and Johnson	239	(1)
The Official Definition of Poverty	240	(4)
How Many Poor?	244	(1)
Who Are the Poor?	244	(4)
Trends in Poverty	248	(1)
The Underclass and the Transitory Poor	249	(4)
Restructuring Welfare	253	(3)
The Mystery of Persistent Poverty	256	(6)
Conclusion	262	(3)
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary	265	(1)
Suggested Readings	265	(2)
The American Class Structure and Growing Inequality	267	(14)
How Many Classes Are There?	268	(2)
The Capitalist Class	270	(2)
The Upper-Middle Class	272	(1)
The Middle Class	272	(1)
The Working Class	273	(1)
The Working Poor	274	(1)
The Underclass	274	(1)
Growing Inequality	275	(3)
Why?	278	(1)
Straws in the Wind	279	(2)
Glossary	281	(12)
Bibliography	293	(17)
Note on Statistical Sources	310	(1)
Credits	311	(2)
Index	313