Category: Class & Stratification

woman reading

Class & Stratification / Opinion

Green Against Greed? Why Pro-Environmental Views Flourish Among the Culturally Privileged

Climate change and environmental degradation affect us all. Yet concern about these issues is far from evenly distributed. People’s willingness to prioritize the environment, make sacrifices for sustainability, or even believe in climate change varies sharply by social class. Why is this the case? My new study, published in The British Journal of Sociology, uses detailed survey data to map how environmental attitudes vary across the social landscape. It offers not only a clearer picture of who holds what views...

A graphic showing how to move from inequalities to inclusion by growing together

Class & Stratification / Political & Economic Sociology / Research Brief / Rural Sociology / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Behind Every Business: Smallholder Struggles and Shared Hope

‘Through fields of uneven fortune and lean harvests, untiring hands of the farming communities across the Global South cultivate life and hope against the odds.’ In agricultural societies of developing economies, small-scale farmers rise early to farm the lands that have sustained their families for generations. Their labour, however, extends far beyond local needs—these crops fuel regional economies, support industrial supply chains, and cross borders to feed communities in the Global North. Despite playing a critical role in global food...

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Rural Sociology / Sociology of the Family

Empowerment in Action: How Women’s Choices Safeguard Food Security in Uganda

In many parts of the world, women play a crucial role in agriculture and food production. Their contributions to farming, fishing, and livestock keeping are significant for food security and nutrition, especially in rural communities. However, women often face challenges that limit their ability to make decisions about what food is grown, prepared, and consumed in their households. Understanding the link between women’s overall empowerment and their specific agency in nutrition can provide valuable insights into improving food security and...

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Social Identity / Sociology of Language

Diversity & Inclusion Research: Unveiling and Promoting Diversity, Inclusion, and Access

This is the first editorial by Drs Gabriela C. Zapata and Taylor Le Cui, Co Editors-in-Chief of new multidisciplinary, Open Access journal, Diversity & Inclusion Research, published by Wiley. It is was originally published in the journal, here, on 6 November 2023 and reproduced here for wider dissemination: The global crisis brought about by the COVID pandemic and the reinvigorated actions of social groups such as Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and the Climate Movement once more brought to light the...

Applied Sociology / Class & Stratification / Feminist Theory / Gender & Sexuality / News / Population & Demography / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Research Methodologies / Social Identity / Social Psychology & Lifecourse / Social Theory / Sociology of Culture

Introducing a New Journal: Diversity & Inclusion Research

Launching in 2023! Diversity & Inclusion Research is an important new Open Access, multidisciplinary journal publishing high-quality research focussed on improving diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility at the individual, organizational, and societal level. Published by Wiley, the journal aims to contribute towards the deepening of local and international, theoretical and practical understandings of DE&I.​ There is an increasing urgency driving a need for rigorous inequality research. More than two-thirds of countries are experiencing increased income disparity, exacerbating the risks of economic and...

Class & Stratification / Opinion / Research Brief / Sociology of Children / Sociology of the Family

UK Secondary Education Social Mobility and Links to the PATA Theory

Financial disadvantage for children and families in the UK is a historical, persistent, and increasing issue, which affects young people’s long-term future well-being and life chances (The Equality Trust, 2022; Social Mobility Commission, 2014). For students in secondary education the achievement gap between those from low socio-economic (SES) households and their more affluent peers continues to increase, amplifying inequalities and disrupting opportunities for progression (HM Government, 2015; 2017, 2021).  Social mobility in an educational context focuses on how best to...

Class & Stratification / Opinion / People / Political & Economic Sociology / Social Theory

Interview with Dr Zhuoni Zhang, Associate Editor for Sociology Compass

Sociology Compass is delighted to welcome Dr Zhuoni Zhang to lead the Social Stratification Section as Associate Editor, along with Professor Xiaogang Wu. Zhuoni is Associate Professor in Urban Governance and Design Thrust, Society Hub, at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou). The Associate Editor role at Sociology Compass is to lead on the commissioning of state-of-the-art review articles under dedicated subject areas. We took the opportunity to talk to Zhuoni about her research background and aims for the social stratification section as she...

Class & Stratification / Opinion / People / Political & Economic Sociology / Social Theory

Interview with Professor Xiaogang Wu, Associate Editor for Sociology Compass

Sociology Compass is delighted to welcome Professor Xiaogang Wu to lead the Social Stratification Section as Associate Editor, along with Dr Zhuoni Zhang. Xiaogang is Professor of Sociology at New York University Shanghai. The Associate Editor role at Sociology Compass is to lead on the commissioning of state-of-the-art review articles under dedicated subject areas. We took the opportunity to talk to Xiaogang about his research background and aims for the social stratification section as he and Dr Zhang join the Sociology Compass editorial team....

Class & Stratification / Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Research Brief / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Well-being is a characteristic of companies – not just individual workers

Work-related well-being has garnered significant public attention since the onset of COVID-19. Discussions of remote work, flexible work, and the importance of work/life balance have received heightened consideration as people and organizations across the globe adapt to an unprecedented historical moment and begin reassessing how they want to work (and live). While simply discussing work-related well-being is a step in the right direction, popular and academic understandings of well-being in the workplace have room for improvement. This is because well-being...

Class & Stratification / Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of the Family

A look beyond poverty – what role does economic support play in (re-)producing inequalities?

In countries of the global South, social relationships often function as channels for support essential for making a living. Studies that created a comprehensive overview of all forms of welfare benefits people have access to (for example Bevan 2004), acknowledged these forms of support as informal social protection. Informal as they do not follow a formal, written script and thus differ from the well-defined welfare provisions of governments. Instead, informal support is embedded in social relationships and can thus take...

Class & Stratification / Opinion / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture / Urban Sociology

Undoing Residential Segregation: Is Housing Access Enough?

More than fifty years after passage of the Fair Housing Act, many Americans continue to live in neighborhoods that are segregated by race/ethnicity and class (Loh et al. 2020). How does this spatial separation come about, and what would it take to meaningfully integrate neighborhoods? Is providing affordable housing enough, or do we need to think about other dimensions of belonging within a community, such as shared opportunities for recreation, consumption, or making friends? Questions like these are of central...

Class & Stratification / Opinion / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Organizations & Work

College Inequalities: The Best Four Years for Whom?

Going to college is a revered part of young adulthood in U.S. society. It is often said that the four years spent in college are “the best four years of your life,” riddled with expectations that everyone in college is having fun, learning endlessly, and “finding themselves.” However, this pervasive societal encouragement of attaining a college education can easily feel like an anxiety-ridden pressure campaign. Many U.S. teens grow up hearing from parents, relatives, friends, or guidance counselors that their...

Class & Stratification / Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology

Is America Coming Apart?

Income and wealth inequalities in the United States are ever widening, and it is having a knock-on effect on segregation. Consider your own life. When you think about the people with whom you interact most, both socially and professionally, it is likely that your neighbors, classmates, and coworkers come to mind. This makes sense, as we come to spend a great deal of our time in our own schools, our own neighborhoods, and our own workplaces. Now consider the socioeconomic...

Class & Stratification / Opinion / Sociology of Culture / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Does cultural consumption increase future earnings?

In contemporary Britain (as in almost every other nation), there is a clear link between cultural tastes and social position. People who are highly educated, have higher incomes, and work in prestigious occupations are generally more avid cultural consumers than people in less advantaged positions. As you might expect, they are more likely to enjoy high-brow activities like classical music concerts and art galleries. However, they also participate more often in a diverse range of activities; from going to the...

Class & Stratification / Opinion / Sociology of Organizations & Work

Doctors’ Orders – Sociology Lens Q&A

Can you give us some background information about the US medical residency system? The US medical residency system is peculiar in the sense that on any given year, there are consistently fewer prospective American MD medical student (USMD) applicants than there are available positions—by between 25 and 40%. This has been true since the about 1950s. So the country relies on international and osteopathic medical graduates (what I collectively call “non-USMDs”) to fill residency positions in fields like internal medicine,...

Applied Sociology / Class & Stratification / Opinion / Political & Economic Sociology / Social Identity

WHAT DOES BAKING TELL US ABOUT CLASS DURING COVID-19 IN INDIA?

In an unequal and diverse society like India, food has had deep associations with questions of identity, whether that of religion, caste, class, gender, ethnicity, or tribe. The recent COVID-19 crisis has highlighted some of these associations in a newer light, including the relationship between food and class. For most of the Indian middle-classes, the period of lockdown has been spent in experimenting with food as dishes like Dalgona coffee and banana bread became popular ‘quarantine recipes’. Food also became...