Class Counts combines theoretical discussions of the concept of class with a wide range of comparative empirical investigations of class and its ramifications in developed capitalist societies. What unites the topics is not a preoccupation with a common object of explanation, but rather a common explanatory factor: class. Four broad themes are explored: class structure and its transformations; the permeability of class boundaries; class and gender; class consciousness. The specific empirical studies include such diverse topics as the sexual division of labour in housework, gender differences in managerial authority, friendship networks in the class structure, the expansion of self-employment in the United States in the past two decades, and the class consciousness of state and private-sector employees. The results of these studies are then evaluated in terms of how they confirm certain expectations within the Marxist tradition of class analysis and how they pose challenging surprises.

Class Counts combines theoretical discussions of the concept of class with a wide range of comparative empirical investigations of class.
Reviews
'In this important and innovative study, Erik Olin Wright presents a challenging theoretical and empirical cross-national analysis of class relations and class consciousness ... This study will be a key reference point in future discussion of competing approaches to class analysis and the place of class in contemporary societies.' Bob Jessop, Lancaster University
'This book reports on the single most important sociological research project of the last decade ... It offers interesting empirical evidence, analyzed competently and making those data speak to the most abstract theoretical issues. It is a great way to introduce students in sociology and at the same time address vital contemporary issues. Scholars working on social stratification, mobility, inequalities, gender, race will take this work as their point of departure for the next decade.' Ivan Szelenyi, University of California, Los Angeles
'In recent years it has become fashionable to question the usefulness of class analysis. Class Counts is Erik Wright's clear and convincing answer to the skeptics. Wright shows how class analysis makes sense of the inequalities that divide postindustrial society.' Michael Hout, University of California, Berkeley



Book Information
ISBN 9780521556460
Author Erik Olin Wright
Format Paperback
Page Count 616
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 890g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 35mm