This book assembles classic and contemporary articles representing the major sociological approaches to understanding social inequality. The volume offers essential reading for undergraduates who need an introduction to the field of stratification research, for graduate students and for advanced scholars who seek a basic reference guide.

Study Guide; Preface and Acknowledgments; Part I: Introduction; The Past, Present, and Future of Social Inequality (David B. Grusky); Part II: Forms and Sources of Stratification The Functions of Stratification; Some Principles of Stratification (Kingsley Davis & Wilbert E. Moore) The Dysfunctions of Stratification; Some Principles of Stratification: A Critical Analysis (Melvin M. Tumin); Inequality by Design (Claude S. Fischer, Michael Hout, Martn Snchez Jankowski, Samuel R. Lucas, Ann Swidler, and Kim Voss) Concluding Commentary to Part Two; New Light on Old Issues: The Relevance of Really Existing Socialist Societies for Stratification Theory (Gerhard Lenski); Part III: The Structure of Modern Stratification Theories of Class Marx and Post-Marxists; Alienation and Social Classes (Karl Marx); Classes in Capitalism and Pre-Capitalism (Karl Marx); Ideology and Class (Karl Marx); Value and Surplus Value (Karl Marx); Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society (Ralf Dahrendorf); Varieties of Marxist Conceptions of Class Structure (Erik Olin Wright); A General Framework for the Analysis of Class Structure (Erik Olin Wright); Class Conflict in the Capitalist World Economy (Immanuel Wallerstein) Weber and Post-Weberians; Class, Status, Party (Max Weber); Status Groups and Classes (Max Weber); Open and Closed Relationships (Max Weber); The Rationalization of Education and Training (Max Weber); The Class Structure of the Advanced Societies (Anthony Giddens); Marxism and Class Theory: A Bourgeois Critique (Frank Parkin) Durkheim and Post-Durkheimians; The Division of Labor in Society (Emile Durkheim); Are There Big Social Classes? (David B. Grusky and Jesper B. Srensen ) The Ruling Class and Elites Cassic Statements; The Ruling Class (Gaetano Mosca); The Power Elite (C. Wright Mills); Elites and Power (Anthony Giddens) Contemporary Elites in Mass Society, Capitalism, and Post-Capitalism; The Political Class in the Age of Mass Society: Collectivistic Liberalism and Social Democracy (Edward A. Shils); The Inner Circle (Michael Useem); Post-Communist Managerialism