This course introduces students to the major contemporary theories and the central concepts relevant to the study of social stratification, with particular attention to the study of advanced industrial societies. It presents some of the key findings from the comparative literature on social stratification and shows how theoretical debates can be tested against empirical data. The course offers a comprehensive introduction to key debates in the field of social stratification, including debates on meritocracy, the declining significance of social class, the causes of income polarisation, and the determinants of gender and ethnic stratification in contemporary societies.
Objectives
The course objectives are:
1) to give students a good knowledge of the academic literature and debates about social stratification in advanced contemporary societies;
2) to give empirically-based knowledge of the ways in which social structures vary across contemporary advanced societies;
3) to enable students to understand how contemporary stratification theories can be tested against the empirical evidence;
4) to introduce students to theories of social change by looking at changes in the social structures of advanced industrial societies;
5) to enable students to understand how social scientists make sense of the complexity of social phenomena by combining theory and empirical research;
6) to understand the role played by labour-markets, households and welfare states in the production/reproduction of inequality;
7) to introduce students to the complexities of measuring (class, income, gender) inequality
8) to introduce students to some key concepts and debates in the study of social behaviour, including the role of preferences vs. constraints, biological vs. environmental influences, socialization vs. agency;
9) to understand the differences between micro, meso and macro levels of analysis;
10) to understand the difference between demand and supply-side theories of gender and ethnic stratification;
