Dimensions of social inequality - Conceptual analysis and theory of society

Samenvatting

Challenged is the conventional use of the notion of multidimensionality of structured social inequality, & replacing it with a more satisfactory conceptual framework is suggested. The customary reference to M. Weber as main justification of the conceptual distinction between class, status, & power is criticized, & the validity of W. G. Runciman's more recent arguments ("Explaining Social Stratification," in Imagination and Precision in the Social Sciences, Nossiter, T. J. [Ed], London, 1972) on the same subject is questioned. The ground for a revised approach is prepared. Conceptual idealism, represented by the writings of Weber & Parsons, is criticized, & an alternative concept of social action, comprising both ideal & material components of social life, is introduced. Three primary dimensions of structured social inequality, wealth, knowledge, & power, & one secondary dimension, status, are derived from this concept of social action, & they are systematically interrelated. Wealth & knowledge are identified as complimentary "distributional" aspects of structured social inequality, power as the "relational" aspect. Status is seen as the main "social currency" which guarantees the day-by-day working of social inequality by keeping its primary dimensions latent. Some tentative suggestions are made as to how the present conceptual discussion is related to the historical & critical analyses of structured social inequality in advanced industrial societies. AA.