On the Meaning and Measurement of Inequality

Abstract

This article offers a defence of the methods and findings of what some critics have referred to as the 'Nuffield school of class analysis'. In particular, we respond to the critique mounted by Hellevik and Ringen, whose most recent publication appeared in an earlier volume of this journal. We argue that these authors adopt an arbitrary and essentialist view of what constitutes inequality, and have either misunderstood or misrepresented the aims and methodology of the research programme they deride. Ringen, moreover, explicitly concedes all of its major substantive results.