As nations industrialize, this study tests whether social structures grow more alike.
It uses cross‑national data to examine how modernization reshapes roles, mobility, and family organization, and what that means for social change.
This edition presents a clear, data‑driven look at how efficiency and scale in industry influence how societies organize themselves. It provides a methodical view of whether less variation in social structure emerges as industrialization advances, and what limits convergence might have.
- Defines three major components of social structure affected by industrialization: role differentiation, mobility, and family organization.
- Describes a cross‑national, cross‑sectional approach with data from 1962–1965 across fifty‑nine countries.
- Explains how factor analysis reduces many indicators into meaningful aspects of social structure.
- Offers findings that variation decreases with higher levels of industrialization, while noting convergence is narrowly defined and not about politics or culture.
Ideal for readers of social science research who want a concrete test of how industrial growth shapes society and what that implies for modern development.