Generating Images of Stratification

by Fararo, Thomas J.; Kosaka, Kenji

• ISBN13: 9781402015007
• ISBN10: 1402015003
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-10-01
• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Pub

Summary

Generating Images of Stratification is a self-contained presentation of a theoretical research program that deals with a significant explanatory problem relating to social inequality and that constructs generative theoretical models in doing so. In more detail: -Self-contained presentation - In respect to the background sociological facts and theoretical ideas and also the formal methods the book provides clear and simple accounts accompanied by examples.- A theoretical research program - The emphasis is on theory development, involving a series of theoretical models constructed within a core framework of principles and methods.- Deals with a significant explanatory problem relating to social inequality - We know from research that how people perceive the stratification system of a society depends upon their position in that system. So the problem is: What process generates this regularity and thereby explains empirical generalizations about the social structuration of images? - Constructs generative theoretical models - The book is an extended presentation of "generative theory" in sociology, a formal method of producing effective theoretical explanations. Generating Images of Stratification is of interest to mathematical sociologists and formal theorists in sociology; sociologists interested in social stratification; methodologists, both in sociology and in other fields; philosophers of social science; and theoretical scientists and mathematicians who are interested in applying their analytical tools to social science topics.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction	1	(5)
Chapter 1. The Methodology of Formal Theorizing	6	(24)
A Generalizing Orientation	6	(3)
A Deductive Orientation	9	(3)
Interrelation of the Orientation Elements	12	(3)
Theoretical Models and Mathematics in Sociology	15	(5)
Models of Social Structure	20	(2)
Process Models	22	(3)
Theoretical Frameworks and Theoretical Models	25	(1)
The Evaluation of Theoretical Models	26	(1)
The Axiomatic Method	27	(3)
Chapter 2. Stratification and Consciousness	30	(24)
Structure and Stratification	30	(3)
Symbolic Media and Stratification	33	(6)
Stratification Elements as Parameters	39	(1)
The Theoretical Analysis of Stratification	40	(3)
Images of Stratification	43	(4)
Theory and Research on Images of Stratification	47	(7)
Chapter 3. The Panoply of Structural Images	54	(32)
Generating Images: Introduction	54	(2)
From Empirical Generalizations to Formal Theory	56	(3)
A Formal Representation of Multidimensional Stratification	59	(6)
The Image Formation Process: Axioms	65	(6)
The Focal Actor Method: Examples and Consequences	71	(2)
Derived Consequences	73	(11)
Appendix	84	(2)
Chapter 4. Self-Location in a Stratified System	86	(22)
The Basic Assumption and its Derived Consequences	86	(6)
Deriving Empirical Self Identification: Labeling	92	(7)
The Magnification of the Middle	99	(2)
Fields, Actor Representations and Reflexivity	101	(5)
Appendix	106	(2)
Chapter 5. Images of the Shape of a Stratified System	108	(32)
The Nature of the Theoretical Problem	108	(2)
Extending the Scope of the Formal Theory	110	(3)
The Representation of d-Images	113	(2)
Generating d-Images: A Distribution Form and an Axiom	115	(3)
Generating d-Images: The 2x2 System	118	(5)
Generating d-Images: The 2x3 System	123	(7)
Toward Further Theoretical Elaborations	130	(3)
The Double Diamond Model	133	(7)
Chapter 6. Theoretical Elaborations	140	(26)
The Upward Merging Bias	141	(6)
Social Mobility and Image Transformation	147	(5)
Rank Equivalence and Images	152	(4)
Dimensional Permutations	156	(3)
Images of Distributive Justice	159	(6)
Appendix	165	(1)
Chapter 7. Proliferation: New Directions of Research	166	(27)
Generating Images of Emergent Dominance Structures	166	(8)
Generating Stratified Emotional Energy Levels	174	(5)
A Simulation Study	179	(3)
An Empirical Study	182	(11)
References	193	(6)
Index	199