The Structure of Social Stratification in the United States [antikvár]

PrefaceThe mtent of this book is to increase readers' understanding of the structure of stratification. The book is organized to stress the significance of social class in people's lives. In this respect, it is similar to my previous text written about a decade ago (Beeghley, 1978a). Much has changed since then, however, both in the state of the field and my own approach to it. Hence, rather than merely updating that book, which was my original intention, I have written a completely new one.In so doing, I now emphasize three themes, which are introduced in Chapter 1 and woven throughout the book. The first is that power is class based and decisively influences the distribution of valued resources in the society. This idea, which is fundamental to the work of both Karl Marx and Max Weber, is usually downplayed in the United States, mainly, I suspect, from a desire not to appear too radical. The second theme is that social structure decisively influences rates of action. Although this idea constitutes a basic sociological insight that I have taken from Emile Dürkheim and Robert K. Merton, its significance is often missed because of the preoccupation vdth survey research that characterizes sociology in the United States. Finally, the third theme is that people act on and react to the situations in which they find themselves. Both fieldwork and sample surveys reveal the many ways in which this process occurs. Taken together, these themes are designed to improve comprehension of the structure of stratification in the United States.This book also tries to make an important pedagogical point by emphasizing the significance of hypothesis formation and testing. In science, knowledge advances by conjecture (or educated guesses) and refutation based on a systematic evaluation of the evidence (Popper, 1965). Too often, I think, textbook authors give the impression that social scientific knowledge of society depends on the assumptions observers make. Nothing could be further from the truth.Values, however, do impinge on social scientific inquiry. The effect of values can be seen most readily in researchers' choice of topics for investigation and, more importantly, in their interpretation of the meaning of findings. The latter is a special problem in the social sciences, due mainly to