On the Usefulness of Class Analysis in Research on Social Mobility and Socioeconomic Inequality

Abstract

The article critically discusses the two main uses of the concept of class in recent stratification research. They are John Goldthorpe's analysis of social mobility from a class formation perspective and Erik O Wright's analysis of income inequality in the labor market. I argue that the main problem with both efforts is the lack of a satisfactory theory of how class generates inequality within the labor market. The logic of Gold thorpe's argument assumes that class causes inequality generating separate class interests in the labor market, but he does not provide such a theory. Wnght provides such a theory. However, his several class schemes either provide explanations for inequality that can be derived from standard internal labor market theory that does not satisfy the requirement of class theory; or, they are based on a concept of exploitation that is unsatisfactory for the identification of class categories within the labor market. I observe that it is not clear why Marxist theory needs a class theory of how inequality is generated within the labor market: standard neo-classical economic theory seems consistent with Marx's own conception of the capitalist economy