Sociology of class stratification – course outline
1.
Three relevant, contrasting sociological theories
•


Functionalism – pgs 5, 6, 10, 14 – 17
o Studies include
 Davis & Moore, Some Principles of Stratification, (1945) –
on PLHS website
Marxism – pgs 5, 6, 10, 17 – 20
o Studies include
 Westergaard & Resler, Class in a Capitalist Society, (1976) –
p 18, 19
 Westergaard, Who Gets What? The Hardening of Class
Inequality in the late 20th Century, (1995) – p 19
Weberianism – pgs 5, 6, 10, 20 – 22
o Studies include
 The ‘Oxford Mobility Studies’ by Goldthorpe et al. (1972,
1980 and 1986) p 23
2.
Any two relevant studies
 All studies mentioned can be found online too
3.
Two features, from the following 3:
social inequality
o economic privilege – pgs 8, 9
o social prestige – p 11
o power – p 11, 12
social stratification
o social class in capitalist society – pgs 12 – 14
o class stratification pgs 13 – 22
 functionalist theory of class stratification pgs 14 – 17
 Marxist theory of class stratification pgs 17 – 20
 Weber’s theory of class stratification pgs 20 – 22
o in the questions on p 15, mention made of a study by Davis &
Moore, Some Principles of Stratification, (1945) (also on
PLHS website)
o also on Homework booklet (PLHS website)
measuring social class
o subjective approaches, objective approaches
 (see also PLHS website, 12th November, ‘defining social class and
sub/obj defs’)



4.
•
•
5.

Two changes: (see PLHS website for relevant information which we will use in
class too)
changes in workforce demographics, eg decline of manufacturing industry and
rise in service sector
the impact of recent government policies on greater social mobility
Two aspects:
social mobility pgs 22 – 24
o an analysis of two features and two studies
 Glass, The Social Mobility in Britain Study, (1954) p 22




•
Goldthorpe et al., The ‘Oxford Mobility Studies, (1972, 1980 and
1986), p 23
Marshall, Rose, Newby and Vogler, Social Class in Modern
Britain (referred to as the Essex Study) (1988), p 23
A.H. Halsey, Change in British Society (1995), p 23
Giddens, mention of
 p 464 – Peter Blau and Otis Dudley Duncan, The
American Occupational Structure, (1967)
 p 465 – Seymour Martin Lipset and Reinhard Bendix,
Social Mobility in Industrial Society, (1959)
 p 465 – Gordon Marshall and David Firth, Social mobility
and personal satisfaction: evidence from ten countries,
(1999)
social closure – p 24
o an analysis of two features and two studies
 Willmott and Young conducted a study in 1970
 A survey by Stanworth and Giddens (1971)
 Borthwick et al. In 1991,