Social Stratification

Is it possible to understand what causes inequality, why it is increasing, and how to reduce it . . . all in a single volume? It is! In this all-new fifth edition of Social Stratification, the burgeoning field of inequality is crystallized into 250 core pieces, each presented in readable, distilled form.

Because rising inequality is now understood as a core cause of ongoing social upheaval, it is no longer a dusty scholarly topic addressed by just a few disciplines. It has suddenly become an active, contentious, interdisciplinary field that simply can’t be mastered without broad study in economics, sociology, psychology, data science, and many other fields. That’s a tall order! This volume meets the challenge by selecting and distilling the contributions that have shaped the field and define our opportunities to take on rising inequality.

Who will benefit from this book? It is admittedly not for the faint of heart. It is instead built for those wanting to dig in and master the field, including graduate and undergraduate students, long-standing scholars who need to “brush up,” and pretty much anyone who is committed to understanding why the world is falling apart and whether anything can be done about it.

Michelle Jackson is Associate Professor of Sociology at Stanford University. In her most recent book, The Division of Rationalized Labor, she examines changes in the division of labor in the United States over the past 150 years.

Nima Dahir is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Ohio State University as well as Faculty Affiliate with the Institute for Population Research and the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. Her research explores how Blackness and immigration relate to neighborhood choice and change in American cities.

Claire Daviss is Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and Sociology, by courtesy, at Cornell University. Her research draws on large-scale administrative datasets and online survey experiments to advance organizational and interactional theories of labor market inequality.

David B. Grusky is Professor of Sociology and Faculty Director of the Center on Poverty and Inequality at Stanford University. His research aims to build new and better ways of describing, monitoring, and reducing inequality.