Market Transition,Social Stratification,and Health Disparities in China: Longitudinal Analysis 1991 to 2006

Although a large body of literature has documented that China’s market transition from state socialism led to substantial changes in the social stratification order, little is known about the transition’s implications for health disparities. Integrating the fundamental cause perspective with market transition theory, this article examines the changing association of education and cadre status with self-rated health during the market transition, 1991 through 2006. Analyzing multiple waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey data (N = 28,227), ordinal logistic mixed effects regression reveals the emerging and increasing role of education in shaping health disparities, while the role of cadre status stayed constant over time. Bringing a health outcome into market transition theory and institutional contexts to fundamental cause theory expands both theories and provides insights into the implication of market transition for health disparities.     

Industrialization and Social Stratification*

This paper reviews the current state of knowledge about the effects of industrialization upon systems of social stratification. Taking societies as the unit of observation, we consider the relationships between level of industrialization and (1) the distribution of status characteristics in the population (the structure of stratification); (2) the pattern of interrelations among status characteristics (the process of stratification); and (3) the form of linkages between status characteristics and other aspects of social behavior (the consequences of stratification). A set of propositions is specified, a few of which are empirically well established but most of which yet require empirical testing.     

Equality and Inequality in Modern Society, or Social Stratification Revisited

This paper attempts both to "bring up to date" the author's conception of social stratification as set forth in two previous general papers written in 1940 and 1953, and to broaden the field of consideration by giving special attention to the forces pressing toward equality in various respects, as well as the bases of inequality. The position taken is that the erosion of the legitimacy of the traditional bases of inequality has brought to a new level of prominence value-commitment to an essential equality of status of all members of modern societal communities.
Inequalities, among units of societal structure which are essential in such fields as economic productivity, authority and power, and culturally based competence, must be justified in terms of their contribution to societal functioning. The balancing of the respects in which all members of the societal community and many of its collective subunits must be held to be equal with the imperatives of inequality constitutes one of the primary foci of the problem of integration in modern society. A few suggestions about the mechanisms by which this integrative process can operate are presented.     

Social Stratification and the Body: Gender,Race, and Class

This article introduces the study of social stratification and the body in sociology. Two major fields of social inequality, race and sex, are characterized by visible, physical markers (such as skin tone or body shape) that people use to attribute meaning to the bodies of those around them. Class, on the other hand, offers far subtler bodily clues to the casual observer. Drawing on studies of racialized and sexed bodies, this article derives two principles for studying bodies, class, and social stratification more broadly. First, the relationship between bodies and inequality is bidirectional and co‐constitutive: while beliefs about the meanings of bodily difference are used to legitimate social inequality, preexisting inequalities also shape the appearance, health, and capabilities of the body. Second, the mechanism by which bodily difference is used to justify inequality is the ideology of self‐control: claims about the bodies of marginalized groups tend to frame them as reflecting a lack of self‐discipline, thereby “proving” their moral or evolutionary unfitness for power. The article ends by identifying emerging areas of study that promise to advance the study of embodied stratification and by highlighting the continuing centrality of intersectisonal theories of difference and inequality in embodiment research.     

Social Capital,Interpersonal Trust,and Public Housing

Abstract

Addressing the relationship between housing tenure and social disadvantage, this research examines social capital among public tenants in Australia, concentrating on their level of interpersonal trust and confidence in a range of public institutions. Through multivariate analyses of national survey data it also profiles the social and political background of public housing tenants. As expected, public tenants tend to have lower incomes, lower levels of education, and working-class backgrounds, or do not identify with any class location at all. They are less likely to be married or in de facto relationships than people in other housing tenures, but are more likely to identify with the Australian Labor Party than with the Coalition parties. Although public housing tenants have access to secure and affordable housing, they appear to be generally less trusting than private renters or homeowners and exhibit less confidence in government institutions such as the Australian parliament. Public housing tenants express lower levels of interpersonal trust even controlling for a range of social background factors, suggesting that as a form of tenure, public housing in some ways exacerbates the disadvantage of tenants.     

Linking Housing,Social Services and Family Well-Being

Abstract

Securing adequate housing is a key component in achieving family well-being and a decent quality of life. It is expected that as many as twenty percent of the families currently on welfare, many of whom are disproportionately female and African American, may not be employable by the end of their lifetime benefit. These families, classified as “hard-to-serve” or “hard-to-employ,” are headed by an adult who may be struggling with substance abuse, physical or mental health problems, as well as low literacy and social competency issues that inhibit achieving self-sufficiency. This author will examine existing literature on welfare-dependent households coping with substance abuse and mental health problems, and how the lack of affordable housing impacts their ability to achieve self-sufficiency. This article presents a case study     

香港青年住房分层:层次划分及影响因素

香港近年来房价节节攀升,导致香港青年住房问题日益突出。青年是香港未来发展的希望所在,住房问题关系到香港青年的幸福指数、生活质量、社会安全感及归属感。文章根据住房的买卖市场和租赁市场并结合香港的"公屋"编配制度,将香港青年住房自上而下划分为私人永久性房屋阶层、资助自置居所房屋阶层、公营租住房屋阶层、临时房屋阶层;同时分析了房屋计划、人力资本、婚姻状况、收入水平四大因素对香港青年住房分层的影响,探索解决香港青年住房问题、提高香港青年居住质量的政策路径。     

Sociology in Russia: Studies in Social Stratification

Sociological Forum -     

The Emergence and Stabilization of Stratification in Simple and Complex Social Systems

Work on the emergence and stabilization of stratification in small groups is reviewed. The work on emergence points to three basic conditions underlying the development of stratification in small groups and raises the question as to what mechanism substitutes for some of these conditions in larger systems. Several theories are shown to offer possible solutions. The work on stabilization raises questions as to the nature of the social-psychological processes involved. The relevance of various reinforcement and cognitive consistency theories is considered. Finally, a number of theories concerning the ways stability may be achieved in small groups and larger systems are considered.     

社会结构阶层化和利益关系市场化——中国社会管理面临的新挑战

社会建设和社会管理的核心是协调社会群体之间的利益矛盾与冲突,保持社会秩序。在新的历史时期,社会结构阶层化和利益关系市场化构成社会群体矛盾与冲突的基本特征;而整合日益分化的社会结构,正确处理市场化背景下权力和权利的问题,在很长时间内将是中国社会管理面临的新挑战。在发展阶段和转型路径的约束下,面对日益分化的社会阶层和日益深化的市场化程度,公开、参与、平衡是协调社会矛盾与冲突、重塑社会秩序的基本理念和方向。