Social Stratification and Inequality

This is the second edition of a text for the standard sociology course on social stratification. The text takes a conflict perspective on the subject of social stratification but considers all other perspectives. It examines the subject by including historical material and many examples from other countries. The comparative perspective is especially illustrated in the new chapters on social stratification in Japan and expanding and updated material on Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Special features include: updated material on social mobility; new chapter on stratification in Japan; extensive revision of the Soviet chapters; extensive coverage of the world system; complete update of all statistics on the level of inequality.

Harold R. Kerbo is a professor of sociology at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Professor Kerbo is also the founder and Director of the Pacific Rim Group at Cal Poly, an organization which coordinates research and educational programs in Pacific Rim countries. In addition to other teaching experience in Tokyo, Professor Kerbo was a Fulbright Professor during 1988/1989 at Hiroshima University, as well as a visiting professor in the Law Faculty at Hiroshima Shudo University. During 1991, Professor Kerbo was a visiting professor at the University of Duisburg, Germany, and returned to the Dusseldorf area during 1992 and 1993 as a research professor conducting research on employee relations in Japanese corporations located in Germany. In 1990 Professor Kerbo received a Fulbright-Hays grant to study at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, and for several months during 1994 to 1996 directed a research project on employee relations in American and Japanese corporations with operations in Thailand. During 1996 he was also a visiting professor in the MBA Program at the Prince of Songkla University in Thailand. During the winter term of 1999 professor Kerbo was a visiting professor at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. And during the fall term of 1999 he will be a visiting professor at the University of Wales. Professor Kerbo has published five books and numerous articles on the subjects of social stratification, comparative societies, corporate structure, and modern Japan. He is the author of Sociology: Social Structure and Social Conflict (MacMillan, 1989), and along with John A. McKinstry, the author of Who Rules Japan?: The Inner-Circles of Economic and Political Power (Greenwood/Praeger, 1995). Professor Kerbo is creator and general editor of the McGraw-Hill Comparative Societies Series which will include books on 12 countries.