Ethnic Stratification and Economic Inequality around the World: The End of Exploitation and Exclusion? - Hardcover

Collaboration, Max Haller In; Eder, Anja

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1409449521 ISBN 13: 9781409449522

Publisher: Routledge, 2015

Synopsis

The modern world is characterised by pervasive economic inequalities. Strong economic growth in some developing countries has contributed to a degree to a reduction in the levels of inequality between nations, yet inequality within nations remains high and in some cases, continues to increase. Ethnic Stratification and Economic Inequality around the World investigates the reasons for these striking differences, exploring the coincidence and interaction between economic stratification and ethnic differentiation. Drawing on extensive international survey and statistical data, the author develops a new theory and concrete hypotheses concerning the conditions which lead toward extreme inequality and those which tend toward greater equality. A systematic examination of the interaction between class structures, social stratification and ethnic differentiation, this book sheds light on the manner in which the resulting social structures produce different levels of economic inequality, offering a fivefold typology of patterns of ethnic stratification, which can be applied to present-day world regions. Drawing on the work of Max Weber to provide a rigorous investigation of inequality around the world, it demonstrates what 'sociology as a science of social reality' can significantly contribute to our understanding of global economic stratification. The book is relevant for a wide social-scientific audience, particularly for sociologists, economists and political scientists working in a comparative perspective.

About this title

About the Author:

Max Haller is Professor of Sociology at the University of Graz, Austria, and co-editor of The International Social Survey Programme: Charting the Globe. Anja Eder is a completing her PhD and is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Graz, Austria. She works in the fields of social inequality in international comparison and in applied sociology. Her dissertation focuses on peoples’ attitudes towards social inequality in international country-comparison. She is also teaching in empirical methods of quantitative research and on social inequality. She is a founding member and member of the scientific board of the Center for Empirical Methods of the Social Sciences (GMZ Grazer Methodenkompetenzzentrum) at the University of Graz.

Review:

'While global inequalities have had popular as well as academic attention for years, in recent years the developed world has suddenly woken up to the rising inequality within wealthy nations, particularly in the United States. So far, explanations for this growing inequality have focused on changes in the global economy and its impact within nations. Max Haller has written a well-researched and timely book showing how inequality within nations is more complex and involves differences in racial stratification as well as economic changes.' Harold Kerbo, California Polytechnic State University, USA 'This book is a remarkable achievement. Haller has produced a major and original contribution to the study of global social stratification and inequality by revealing the enormous significance of ethnic divisions and ethnic exploitation in global patterns of inequality. He proves this beyond doubt both through statistical analysis of common global patterns and through regional case-studies of the many existing varieties of ethnic stratification.' Michael Mann, University of California, Los Angeles, USA 'This is a magisterial, world-encompassing contribution to our understanding of the variable economic inequality within nations, focusing on the roles of historical experience of slavery and of ethnic diversity and stratification.' Goran Therborn, University of Cambridge, UK and author of The Killing Fields of Inequality 'Max Haller's work is commendable for its comparative perspective, comprehensive coverage and wealth of empirical data, deftness of analysis and for its historically-sensitive approach. Refreshingly, the volume goes beyond arm-chair theorizing about inequality and offers, on the basis of a vast and carefully-marshalled array of empirical data, some valuable suggestions for reducing levels of inequality between and within nations and mitigating the suffering and hardships of excluded and marginalized groups in society.' --A. R. Momin, University of Mumbai, India

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1409449521
• ISBN 13: 9781409449522
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 418