Class and stratification

Rosemary Crompton

Rosemary Crompton’s book is by far the best existing guide to the present state of class analysis, remarkably well informed about the details of the most important current controversies. 

Work, Employment and Society

‘As a thorough and lively defence of the class analysis approach to an understanding of modern societies it is unlikely to be bettered. That it also integrates gender makes it especially useful and gives it an even wider appeal. Colin Bell, Professor of Sociology, University of Edinburgh

Those who question the continuing relevance of class analysis for Britain in the 1990s should read Rosemary Crompton’s book to make sure that they have the right target in their sights. Lucid, fair-minded and with highly professional thoroughness, Crompton assesses the debates around the main theorists of class and stratification from Marx to Marshall. Her reader-friendly guide will encourage many new intellectual hikers to follow her well-signposted paths through a fragmenting field. She has made redundant all previous textbooks on the subject. This is sociology at its best.”

Ray Pahl, Research Professor in Sociology, University of Kent

This book provides an outstandingly clear and comprehensive review of the different theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of social class and stratification which have been developed since the Second World War. These include quantitative approaches such as can be found in the work of Goldthorpe and Wright, as well as the investigation of class processes within history, politics and sociology. Significant issues, including consumption, the growth of the middle classes, gender, citizenship and the ‘underclass’ are subsequently explored in the volume. It has been asserted increasingly that key concepts in the field of stratification notably ‘class are no longer relevant to the analysis of late twentieth-century societies. Such arguments are critically examined. The author contends that the exploration of structured social inequality remains a key topic within sociology, and that what is required is a better understanding of existing concepts, rather than their rejection. Although many of the debates in the area of class and stratification have in recent years become increasingly difficult, a major aim of this text is to provide an accessible introduction to this complex topic for undergraduate students. Class and Stratification will be widely welcomed by students of sociology. politics and modern history.