Social Class and Stratification

Reviews / Votes

A first-rate, long-needed collection of classic statements of stratification theory along with a fresh, up-to-date statement of the complex intersections among class, race, and gender inequalities. This will go a long way to filling a major gap in existing collections. -- J Craig Jenkins, The Ohio State University Levine deftly combines vital statements from one hundred fifty years of social science theory with useful introductory essays, concise definitions, insightful summaries, and helpful supplementary reading lists. The work provides a solid, accessible, and analytically rigorous foundation upon which to build a comprehensive undergraduate course in either social stratification or sociological theory. In addition to its content, the book's organization and brevity help to make Social Class and Stratification a valuable teaching resource... Levine has done a remarkable job of representing a massive field of scholarship with sixteen essential readings... The classical selections contained in this volume allow readers to appreciate the evolution of stratification theory over time, while the contemporary selections on race and gender promote the development of a multi-faceted, historically informed, and analytically sophisticated framework for understanding the cause and consequences of inequality. -- Cliff Brown, University of New Hampshire Especially impressive is this book's effort to bring the theoretical debates on class and stratification to bear on issues of gender and racial stratification ... Not only has Levine provided her readers with classic statements on these issues, but she has also provided us with excellent summaries of the analysis of capitalist inequality, and of the way capitalism interacts with race and gender ... This volume is a definite advance over most books on this topic, moving beyond the descriptive and experiential level to a more analytical approach. -- Edna Bonacich, University of California, Riverside