Class Counts Student Edition (Studies in Marxism and Social Theory)
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Student edition, 1/5/2010
EAN 9780521663946, ISBN10: 0521663946
Paperback, 312 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm
Language: English
This textbook provides students with a lively and penetrating exploration of the concept of class and its relevance for understanding a wide range of issues in contemporary society. Erik Olin Wright treats class as a common explanatory factor and examines three broad themes: class structure, class and gender, and class consciousness. Specific empirical studies include such diverse topics as class variations in the gender division of labour in housework; friendship networks across class boundaries; the American class structure since 1960; and cross-national variations in class consciousness. The author evaluates these studies in the light of expectations within the Marxist tradition of class analysis. This Student Edition of Class Counts thus combines Wright's sophisticated account of central and enduring questions in social theory with practical analyses of detailed social problems.
1. Class analysis
Part I. Structural Analyses of Class
2. Class structure
3. The transformation of the American class structure, 1960–1990
4. The fall and rise of the petty bourgeoisie
5. The permeability of class boundaries
Part II. Class and Gender
6. Conceptualizing the interaction of class and gender
7. Individuals, families and class analysis
8. The non-effects of class on the gendered division of labor in housework
9. The gender gap in workplace authority
Part III. Class Structure and Class Consciousness
10. A general model of class consciousness and class formation
11. Class consciousness and class formation in Sweden, the USA and Japan
Part IV. Conclusion
12. Confirmations, surprises and theoretical reconstructions.