The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality

About the Author
Preface
Chapter 1 Social Class in America
Karl Marx
Max Weber
Three Issues and 10 Variables
What Are Social Classes?
An American Class Structure
Is the American Class Structure Changing?
Conclusion
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary
Suggested Readings
Chapter 2 Position and Prestige
People Like Us
W. Lloyd Warner: Prestige Classes in Yankee City
Prestige Class as a Concept
How Many Classes?
Class Structure of the Metropolis
Prestige of Occupations
Occupations and Social Classes
Conclusion: Perception of Social Rank and Prestige Classes
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary
Suggested Readings
Chapter 3 Social Class, Occupation, and Social Change
Middletown: 1890 and 1924
Middletown Revisited
Industrialization and the Transformation of the National Class Structure
The National Upper Class
The Industrial Working Class
The New Middle Class
National Occupational System
The Transformations of the American Occupational Structure
From Agricultural to Postindustrial Society
The Loss of Manufacturing Jobs
Women Workers in Postindustrial Society
Transformation of the Black Occupational Structure
Hispanic Workers in Postindustrial Society
Wages in the Age of Growing Inequality
Growing Inequality of Wages: Why?
Harrison and Bluestone: New Corporate Strategies
Frank and Cook: Winner Take All
Conclusion
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary
Suggested Readings
Chapter 4 Wealth and Income
The Income Parade
Lessons From the Parade
The Distribution of Income
Sources of Income
Taxes and Transfers: The Government as Robin Hood?
How Many Poor?
Women and the Distribution of Household Income
The Distribution of Wealth
The Changing Distribution of Wealth
The Changing Distribution of Income
Income Dynamics
Changing Tax Rates
Conclusion
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary
Suggested Readings
Chapter 5 Socialization, Association, Lifestyles, and Values
Bourdieu: The Varieties of Capital
Children's Conception of Social Class
Kohn: Class and Socialization
Lareau: Child Rearing Observed
Patterns of Association in Early Life
Marriage Styles
Blue-Collar Marriages and Middle-Class Models
Social Class and Domestic Violence
The Marriage Gap
Cherlin: The Disappearing Working-Class Family
Informal Association Among Adults
Formal Associations
Separate Lives
Residential Segregation
Conclusion
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary
Suggested Readings
Chapter 6 Social Mobility: The Societal Context
How Much Mobility?
Social Mobility of Women
Circulation and Structural Mobility
Declining Social Mobility
American Mobility in Comparative Perspective
Conclusion
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary
Suggested Readings
Chapter 7 Family, Education, and Career
Blau and Duncan: Analyzing Mobility Models
Jencks on Equality
The Fortunes of Sons and Daughters
Who Goes to College?
The Stratification of Higher Education
Conclusion
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary
Suggested Readings
Chapter 8 Elites, the Capitalist Class, and Political Power
Three Perspectives on Power
Mills: The National Power Elite
Mills, His Critics, and the Problem of Elite Cohesion
Power Elite or Ruling Class?
Who Rules?
Winters' Oligarchy
The National Capitalist Class: Economic Basis
The National Capitalist Class: Social Basis
A New Elite?
The National Capitalist Class: Participation in Government
Money and Politics
The Fate of Campaign Finance Reform
Who Gives?
What Do Rich People Want?
Business Lobbies
Policy-Planning Groups
Indirect Mechanisms of Capitalist-Class Influence
The Capitalist-Class Resurgence
Conclusion
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary
Suggested Readings
Chapter 9 Class Consciousness and Class Conflict
Class Identification
Correlates of Class Identification
Class Identification, Political Opinion, and Voting
Elections and the Democratic Class Struggle
The End of the Democratic Class Struggle
Why Trump?
Policy Preference and Government Response
Class and Political Participation
Class Conflict and the Labor Movement
The Postwar Armistice: Unions in the Age of Shared Prosperity
Labor in Decline
Hacker and Pierson: Winner-Take-All Politics
Conclusion
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary
Suggested Readings
Chapter 10 Poverty and Public Policy
Roosevelt and the Beginnings of Welfare
Rediscovery of Poverty: Kennedy and Johnson
The Official Definition of Poverty
How Many Poor?
Who Are the Poor?
Trends in Poverty
The Transitory Poor and the Underclass
Restructuring Welfare
The Earned Income Tax Credit
Persistent Poverty
Economic Trends
Changing Family Patterns
Government Policy
American Poverty in Comparative Perspective
Conclusion
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary
Suggested Readings
Chapter 11 The American Class Structure and Growing Inequality
How Many Classes Are There?
The Class Structure
Growing Inequality
Why?
Hard Times in the Age of Growing Inequality
Key Terms Defined in the Glossary
Glossary
Bibliography
Note on Statistical Sources
Index