SOCIAL CLASS COMPREHENSIVE EXAM READING LIST
SOCIOLOGY (PHD)
Kent State University – University of Akron
MINOR
THEORY
Bourdieu, Pierre. “Distinction.” Pp. 499-525 in David Grusky (ed.), Social Stratification:
nd
Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective. 2 Edition. Boulder, CO:
Westview Press, 2001.
Dahrendorf, Ralf. 1959. Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society. Stanford U. Press.
Davis, Kingsley and Wilbert Moore. 1945. "Some Principles of Stratification." American
Sociological Review 10:242-249.
Durkheim, Emile. "The Division of Labor in Society." Pp. 178-83 in David Grusky (ed.),
nd
Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective. 2 Edition.
Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001.
Erickson, Robert and John H. Goldthorpe. 1992. The Constant Flux. Oxford:Clarendon
Press, pp.35-47.
Giddens, Anthony. "The Class Structure of the Advanced Societies." Pp. 152-82 in David
Grusky (ed.), Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective.
nd
2 Edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001.
Grusky (ed.), Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective.
nd
2 Edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001.
Kingston, Paul W. 1994. “Are There Classes in the United States?” Research in Social
Stratification and Mobility: 13: 3-41.
Lamont, Michele and Lareau, Annette. 1988. Cultural Capital: Allusions, Gaps and
Glissandos in Recent Theoretical Developments. Sociological Theory 6(2), 153-168.
Lenski, Gerhard. 1984. Power and Privilege. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North
Carolina Press.
Marx, Karl. Pp. 87-105 in David Grusky (ed.), Social Stratification: Class, Race, and
nd
Gender in Sociological Perspective. 2 Edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001.
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“Alienation and Social Classes”; “Classes in Capitalism and Pre-Capitalism”; “Ideology
and Class”; “Value and Surplus Value.”
Parkin, Frank. 2001. "Marxism and Class Theory: A Bourgeois Critique." Pp. 162-77 in
David Grusky (ed.), Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological
nd
Perspective. 2 Edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001.
Reskin, Barbara F. 2003. "Including Mechanisms in Our Models of Ascriptive
Inequality." American Sociological Review 68:1-21.
Sorensen, Aage B. 2000. “Toward a Sounder Basis for Class Analysis” American Journal
of Sociology 105:1523-1591 (includes responses by Wright, Goldthorpe, and
Rueschmeyer & Mahoney).
Tumin, Melvin M. “Some Principles of Stratification: A Critical Analysis.” Pp. 65-73 in
David Grusky (ed.), Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological
nd
Perspective. 2 Edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001.
Weber, Max. Pp. 132-52. in David Grusky (ed.), Social Stratification: Class, Race, and
nd
Gender in Sociological Perspective. 2 Edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001.
“Class, Status, Party”; “Status Groups and Classes”; “Open and Closed Relationships”;
“The Rationalization of Education and Training.”
Wright, Erik O. 1997. Class Counts. NY: Cambridge University Press, Chapters 1 and 3.
Wright, Erik O. 1985. “The Biography of a Concept: Contradictory Class Locations.” Pp.
19-6 in E. O. Wright, Classes. London: Verso.
STATUS ATTAINMENT – MOBILITY
Blau, Peter M. and Otis Dudley Duncan, with Andrea Tyree, “Measuring the Status of
Occupations.” Pp. 255-259 in David Grusky (ed.), Social Stratification: Class, Race, and
nd
Gender in Sociological Perspective. 2 Edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001.
Social Class Comprehensive Examination Reading List 3
Blau, Peter M. and Otis Dudley Duncan, with Andrea Tyree. “The Process of
Stratification.” Pp. 390-403 in David Grusky (ed.), Social Stratification: Class, Race, and
nd
Gender in Sociological Perspective. 2 Edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001.
Ganzeboom, Harry B. G., et al. 1991. “Comparative Intergenerational Stratification
Research: Three Generations and Beyond.” Annual Review of Sociology 17: 277-302.
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Sewell, William H., et al. “The Educational and Early Occupational Attainment Process.”
Pp.410-421 in David Grusky (ed.), Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in
nd
Sociological Perspective. 2 Edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001.
POWER, POVERTY, AND WEALTH
Corcoran, M. 1995. “Rags to Riches: Poverty and Mobility in the U.S.” Annual Review of
Sociology 21:237-267.
Domhoff, G. William, 2010. Who Rules America? Challenged to Corporate and Class
Dominance. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Gans, Herbert. 1972. “The Positive Functions of Poverty.” American Journal of
Sociology 78: 275-289.
Johnson, Allan. 2006. Privilege, Power, and Difference. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Mills, C. Wright. “The Power Elite.” Pp. 202-211 in David Grusky (ed.), Social
nd
Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective. 2 Edition. Boulder,
CO: Westview Press, 2001.
Keister, Lisa and Stephanie Moller. 2000. “Wealth Inequality in the United States.”
Annual Review of Sociology. 26, 63-81.
Mills, C. Wright. “The Power Elite.” Pp. 202-211 in David Grusky (ed.), Social
nd
Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective. 2 Edition. Boulder,
CO: Westview Press, 2001.
REPRODUCTION: EDUCATION, CULTURAL CAPITAL, AND
SOCIALIZATION
Bowles, Samuel, and Herbert Gintis. 1976. Schooling in Capitalist America. NY: Basic
Books, Chapters 4-5.
DiMaggio, Paul. 1982. Cultural Capital and School Success: The Impact of Status
Culture Participation on the Grades of U.S. High School Students. American Sociological
Review 47(2), 189-201.
Kao, Grace and Jennifer S. Thompson. 2003. “Racial and Ethnic Stratification in
Educational Achievement and Attainment.” Annual Review of Sociology 29: 417-442.
Lareau, Annette. 2003. Unequal childhoods : class, race, and family life. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
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McLeod, Jay. 2009. Ain’t No Making It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income
Neighborhood 3rd Edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Turner, Ralph. 1960. "Sponsored and Contested Mobility and the School System."
American Sociological Review 25(6): 855-867. (ALSO IN David Grusky (ed.), Social
nd
Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective. 2 Edition. Boulder,
CO: Westview Press, 2001.)
WORK
Althauser, Robert. 1989. “Internal Labor Markets.” Annual Review of Sociology 15:143161.
Baron, James and William Bielby. 1980. "Bringing the Firms Back In: Stratification,
Segmentation, and the Organization of Work." American Sociological Review 49:737-65.
Beck, E. M., et al. 1978. "Stratification in a Dual Economy." American Sociological
Review 43: 704-720.
Braverman, Harry. 1982. "Capitalism and the Division of Labor." Pp. 148-156 in Classes,
Power, and Conflict: Classical and Contemporary Debates, edited by Anthony Giddens
and David Held. Berkeley, CA: University of California.
Kohn, Melvin. 1969. Class and Conformity. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press.
Newman, Katherine and Catherine Ellis. 1999. “There's No Shame in My Game": Status
and Stigma among Harlem's Working Poor. Pp 151-181 in The Cultural Territories of
Race: Black and White Boundaries, edited by M. Lamont. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Piore, Michael. 1975. "Notes for a Theory of Labor Market Segmentation." Pp. 125-71 in
Labor Market Segmentation, edited by Richard Edwards, Michael Reich, and David
Gordon. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.
Reskin, Barbara. 1988. "Bringing the Men Back In: Sex Differentiation and the
Devaluation of Women's Work." Gender & Society 2: 58-81.
Reskin, Barbara, Debra McBrier, and Julie Kmec. 1999. “The Determinants and
Consequences of Workplace Sex and Race Composition.” Annual Review of Sociology
25: 335-361.
Sennet, Richard, and Jonathan Cobb. 1973. The Hidden Injuries of Class. New York:
Vintage Books.
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GENDER, RACE, AND CLASS
Acker, Joan. 1990. “Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations.”
Gender & Society 4: 139-158.
Bonacich, Edna. 1972. “A Theory of Ethnic Antagonism: The Split Labor Market.”
American Sociological Review 37: 547-559.
Feagin, Joe and Clairece Booher Feagin. 1978. "Institutionalized Discrimination." Pp. 1941 in Discrimination American Style: Institutional Racism and Sexism. Malabar, FL:
Robert E. Krieger.
Leicht, Kevin T. 2008. “Broken Down by Race and Gender? Sociological Explanations
of New Sources of Earnings Inequality.” Annual Review of Sociology 34:237-255.
Pearce, Diana. 1993. “Something Old, Something New: Women’s Poverty in the 1990s.”
Pp. 79-97 in American Women in the Nineties: Today’s Critical Issues, edited by Sherri
Matteo. Boston: Northeastern University.
Reskin, Barbara and Patricia Roos. 1987. "Status Hierarchies and Sex Segregation." Pp.
3-23 in Ingredients for Women's Employment Policy, edited by Christine Bose and
Glenna Spitze. Albany, NY: State University of New York.
Sorenson, Annemette 1994. “Women, Family, and Class.” Annual Review of Sociology.
20:27-47.
Wilson, William Julius. 1980. “The Declining Significance of Race; Blacks and
Changing American Institutions.” Pp. 611-623 in David Grusky (ed.), Social
nd
tratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective. 2 Edition. Boulder,
CO: Westview Press, 2001.
LEGITIMACY AND CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS
Della Fave, Richard. 1980. “The Meek Shall Not Inherit the Earth: Self-Evaluation and
the Legitimacy of Stratification.” American Sociological Review 45:955-971.
Johnson, Cathryn, Timothy J. Dowd, and Cecilia L. Ridgeway. 2006. “Legitimacy as a
Social Process.” Annual Review of Sociology 32: 53-78.
Kerbo, Harold. 2003. “The Process of Legitimation.” Pp. 418-446 in Social Stratification
and Inequality: Class Conflict in Historical, Comparative, and Global Perspective.
Boston: McGraw-Hill.
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