Definition
Social stratification (see Grusky 2001, 2014; Hout and DiPrete 2006; Sørensen 1986) refers to the systematic ranking of people or groups of people that characterizes all known societies. This ranking is associated with an unequal distribution of resources (social inequalities) and access to life chances. Systems of social stratification require some form of legitimation to be stable.
Description
Human history has known varieties of stratification systems associated with different degrees of social inequalities and poverty. Kerbo (2003) provides a history of the development of social stratification in human societies and states that although there is no “complete agreement on the most useful typology or method of comparing types of social stratification systems that have existed throughout history, (…) five general types are most commonly described: primitive communal, slavery, caste, estate or feudal, and class systems” (p. 50). He compares these stratification systems...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Bennett, T., Savage, M., Bortolaia Silva, E., Warde, A., Gayo-Cal, M., & Wright, D. (2009). Culture, class, distinction. London: Routledge.
Blau, P. M., & Duncan, O. T. (1967). The American occupational structure. New York: Wiley.
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction. A social critique of the judgement of taste. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J.-C. (1997). Reproduction in education, society and culture. London: Sage.
Breen, R. (Ed.). (2004). Social mobility in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Breen, R., & Jonsson, J. O. (2005). Inequality of opportunity in comparative perspective: Recent research on educational attainment and social mobility. Annual Review of Sociology, 31, 223–243.
Chan, T. W. (Ed.). (2010). Social status and cultural consumption. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chan, T. W., & Goldthorpe, J. H. (2007). Class and status: The conceptual distinction and its empirical relevance. American Sociological Review, 72, 512–532.
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory, and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, pp. 139–167.
Davies, R., & Elias, P. (2009). The application of ESeC to three sources of comparative European data. In D. Rose & E. Harrison (Eds.), Social class in Europe (pp. 61–86). London: Routledge.
DiPrete, T. A., & Eirich, G. M. (2006). Cumulative advantage as a mechanism for inequality: A review of theoretical and empirical developments. Annual Review of Sociology, 32, 271–297.
Dolan, P., Peasgood, T., & White, M. (2008). Do we really know what makes us happy? A review of the economic literature on the factors associated with subjective well-being. Journal of Economic Psychology, 29, 94–122.
Elo, I. T. (2009). Social class differentials in health and mortality: Patterns and explanations in comparative perspective. Annual Review of Sociology, 35, 553–572.
Erikson, R., & Goldthorpe, J. H. (1992). The constant flux. A study of class mobility in industrial societies. Oxford: Clarendon.
Frey, B., & Stutzer, A. (2002). Happiness and economics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Gagliani, G. (1985). Long-term changes in the occupational structure. European Sociological Review, 1, 183–210.
Goldthorpe, J. H. (1992). Employment, class, and mobility. A critique of liberal and marxist theories of long-term change. In H. Haferkamp & N. J. Smelser (Eds.), Social change and modernity (pp. 122–145). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Goldthorpe, J. H. (2006). On sociology (2nd ed.). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Grusky, D. B. (2001). The past, present, and future of social inequality. In D. B. Grusky (Ed.), Social stratification. Class, race, and gender in sociological perspective (pp. 3–51). Bouldner: Westview Press.
Grusky, D. B. (Ed.). (2014). Social stratification. Class, race, and gender in sociological perspective. London: Routledge.
Grusky, D. B., Smeeding, T. M., & Snipp, C. M. (2015). A new infrastructure for monitoring social mobility in the United States. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 657, 63–82.
Hout, M. (2015). A summary of what we know about social mobility. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 657, 27–36.
Hout, M., & DiPrete, T. A. (2006). What we have learned: RC28’s contributions to knowledge about social stratification. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 24, 1–20.
Hugrée, C., Penissat, E., & Spire, A. (2017). Les classes sociales en Europe. Tableau des nouvelles inégalités sur le vieux continent. Marseille: Agone.
Jonsson, J. O., Grusky, D. B., Di Carlo, M., Reinhard, P. R., & Brinton, M. C. (2009). Microclass mobility: Social reproduction in four countries. American Journal of Sociology, 114, 977–1036.
Kerbo, H. R. (2003). Social stratification and inequality. In Class conflict in historical, comparative, and global perspective. Boston: McGrawHill.
Kerbo, H. R. (2007). Social stratification. In C. D. Bryant & D. L. Peck (Eds.), 21st century sociology: A reference handbook (pp. 228–236). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Killewald, A., Pfeffer, F. T., & Schachner, J. N. (2017). Wealth inequality and accumulation. Annual Review of Sociology, 43, 379–404.
Lambert, P., & Griffiths, D. (2018). Social inequalities and occupational stratification. Methods and concepts in the analysis of social distance. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
McCall, L., & Percheski, C. (2010). Income inequality: New trends and research directions. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 329–347.
Myles, J., & Turegun, A. (1994). Comparative studies in class structure. Annual Review of Sociology, 20, 103–124.
Neckerman, K. M., & Torche, F. (2007). Inequality: Causes and consequences. Annual Review of Sociology, 33, 335–357.
Shavit, Y., & Blossfeld, H. P. (Eds.). (1993). Persistent inequality: Changing educational attainment in thirteen countries. Boulder: Westview Press.
Shavit, Y., & Müller, W. (Eds.). (1997). From school to work. A comparative study of educational qualifications and occupational destinations. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Sørensen, A. B. (1986). Theory and methodology in social stratification. In U. Himmelstrand (Ed.), The sociology of structure and action (pp. 69–95). London: Sage.
Sørensen, A. B. (1991). On the usefulness of class analysis in research on social mobility and socioeconomic inequality. Acta Sociologica, 34, 71–87.
Treiman, D. J. (1977). Occupational prestige in comparative perspective. New York: Academic.
Wright, E. O. (1997). Class counts. Comparative studies in class analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wright, E. O. (Ed.). (2005). Approaches to class analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Budowski, M., Tillmann, R. (2021). Social Stratification. In: Maggino, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_2787-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_2787-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69909-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69909-7
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences