The underclass and the American class structure
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This study is about the growth within the American class structure of an "underclass, " or a class of people outside of the social division of labor. The underclass has come to be a common feature of advanced capitalist economies, and while this study examines the phenomenon in a particular time and place, it is also intended to highlight more general principles about the relationship between an underclass and the society to which it belongs. The analysis draws on both survey data and qualitative material. In Chapter 1, I use survey data to measure the size and growth of the underclass in the U.S. between 1968 and 2015, and I identify four distinct subgroups within the underclass that represent niches in the class structure where people have tended to cluster. In Chapter 2, I use survey data to examine the social integration of members of the underclass, and I assess whether this varies over time or across demographic groups. In Chapter 3, I draw on over four decades of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews to present a more qualitative description of the underclass and its relationship to the rest of society. The first two chapters create a broad sketch of the underclass, showing its location in time and place and rough indicators of its social integration across different contexts. The third chapter then brings that sketch to life with rich descriptions of underclass members.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2017 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Cumberworth, Erin |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Sociology. |
| Primary advisor | Grusky, David B |
| Thesis advisor | Grusky, David B |
| Thesis advisor | Rosenfeld, Michael J, 1966- |
| Thesis advisor | Young, Cristobal |
| Advisor | Rosenfeld, Michael J, 1966- |
| Advisor | Young, Cristobal |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Erin Cumberworth. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Sociology. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2017. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2017 by Erin Michelle Cumberworth
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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