Stratification and Power: Structures of Class, Status and Command - Hardcover

John Scott

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0745610412 ISBN 13: 9780745610412

Publisher: Polity Press, 1996

Synopsis

This volume presents a systematic discussion of the leading theoretical approaches to social stratification. It is both an overview and a contribution to the analysis of class, status and power. John Scott argues that Max Weber's conceptual framework - reconstructed and enlarged - provides the basis for integrating what have been considered up to now as divergent approaches to stratification studies. Marxist theories of class and economic division, normative functionalist theories of status and cultural division, and elitist theories of command and authoritarian division all find their place in the proposed framework. Each theoretical approach is illustrated through empirical investigations undertaken by writers associated with them. Recent work by Dahrendorf, Wright and Golthorpe is examined, and it is shown how their arguments contribute to a theoretical synthesis in the analysis of stratification.

About this title

Review

"John Scott offers a challenging agenda for comprehensive and comparative analysis of social stratification." John Westergaard, University of Sheffield

"A comprehensive and critical appraisal of classical and modern theories of social stratification, and an important contribution to the subject in its own right." David Lockwood, University of Essex

"John Scott ... brings impressive credentials to his aim with this book to put social stratification firmly back into the mainstream of sociological concerns ... Scott presents it with admirable lucidity and adds distinctively significant underlinings ... This book should appeal as a central teaching text, for its wide–ranging review of classical and modern literature in the field, including a finely tuned final chapter on research and debate about the ′working class′. But its strength goes well beyond this, to offer a challenging agenda for work on a subject whose continuing sociological salience Scott persuasively demonstrates." Times Higher Education Supplement

"Those who read this book will come away with the distinct impression that the question of social stratification is very much alive as we approach the new millennium." Work, Employment and Society

"I would strongly recommend this book to anybody interested in the history and conceptualization of social stratification. It is written with insight and clarity, and will be an invaluable resource for students – and their teachers – working in this field." Political Studies

About the Author

John Scott is Professor of Sociology at the University of Essex.

Edition details

• Publisher: Polity Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0745610412
• ISBN 13: 9780745610412
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 300