A problem in educational attainment research is that measures of association, and not measures of inequality, have been used to observe inequality in the distribution of higher education between classes. While the statistical association between class and education in many countries has been relatively stable, measures of inequality applied to the same data show a marked reduction of inequality in the distribution of higher education over time. This is a result of reduced bias in the allocation mechanisms, most likely facilitated by the increasing provision of higher education. Decreasing inequality means that the conclusion in the literature that egalitarian educational reforms have been ineffective lacks empirical support. One reason why measures of inequality have been overlooked in most educational attainment research may be the firm but unfounded belief in the 'margin insensitivity' of loglinear measures. They are assumed to capture the association net of changes in the marginals of the class-by-education table, thus reflecting the 'true nature' of the allocation mechanism in recruitment to higher education. This notion can be shown to be a logically untenable deduction from the property of loglinear measures of being insensitive in relation to one specific kind of change in the marginals, to the claim that these measures are insensitive to marginal changes in general.
Ageing is process that is always gendered. Gender shapes the life biography and the norms and expectations that are imposed on individuals as they age. On the other hand, the experience of ageing affects the mechanism of creating and negotiating gender identity. This article critically discusses debates surrounding gender inequalities in old age. These debates often focus on older women as a group that is highly disadvantaged owing to the combined effects of sexism and ageism. This article critically discusses this “problem of old women” and shows alternative views of women’s experiences of ageing. It highlights the necessity to understand age and gender as two intertwining systems. It points out that ageing can in many respects create room for a redefinition of gender roles and expectation. The intersection of age and gender cannot be seen as a simple combination of two categories and must instead be viewed as a process that creates a specific social location, which can generate new forms of inequalities., Jaroslava Hasmanová Marhánková., and Obsahuje bibliografii
One idea widespread in current discourse on the ageing population speaks of the ‘intergenerational inequity’ between the elderly and the young. This assumption overlooks the extensive lifetime financial transfers from older to younger generations that occur within families. Housing wealth may reinforce inequalities over generations, but this wealth also provides an opportunity to assist offspring in entering the housing market. The increase in house prices in recent years has put parents in an even better position to provide financial support. Instead of following the distributional principles that guides redistribution within the welfare state, this distribution may reproduce or even increase social inequalities. Intergenerational inequalities in economic prosperity may therefore also lead to intragenerational inequalities between those who have parents that can help and those who do not. However, this type of inequality may strengthen rather than weaken family solidarity.
This article concentrates on critical responses to the so-called cultural turn in the conceptualization and research of social inequalities, in which we can, inter alia, discern a shift of interest from the problem of distribution to the problem of recognition. In this context, the dispute about the justice of distribution and recognition, led by Fraser and Honneth, is discussed. From the sociological point of view Fraser put forward an analogy of an unsuccessful Lenski’s attempt at synthesis of consensualist and conflictualist accounts of social order, whereas Honneth’s conception resonated with the consensualist account of order, characterized by explicit emphasis on norms and normative consensus. The author of this article suggests that the resolution of this dispute about justice (or inequality) may be indicated in Lockwood’s conception of the incongruence of the status and class order, which is, as is argued, closer to Honneth’s approach to the problem. Lockwood’s conception is extended here and employed in the argument, in which the author demonstrates that behind the increasing number of the so-called “inadaptable” individuals within the societies of the EuroAmerican cultural area, which is endangering the integration of society, we can trace the attempt of the majority to sustain its privileged position through narrowing the definition of performance applicable at the labour market. The author thus, following Honneth’s argument, comes to the conclusion that the threat to the integrity of contemporary society is to be thought of in terms of recognition and regards the cultural turn in the research of social inequalities in this context as valuable., Jadwiga Šanderová., and Obsahuje bibliografii
This article focuses on the intersection of gender, class and racial/ethnic inequalities. The intersection theory draws on the feminist critique of traditional class theory and on the challenge to feminism posed by ethnic women. The article develops thinking about various configurations of the intersection of inequalities and addresses mainly the case of marginalized women. However, the argument goes that the intersection of gender, class and racial/ethnic inequalities is not just a matter for disadvantaged groups because it has an impact on all groups in various relations. Class, gender and race/ethnicity should be understood as interlocked systems of both disadvantage and privilege. The intersection of inequalities is an approach intertwined with the development of social movements (women’s, labour and civil rights movements) in the USA and Western Europe. The article looks at why the intersection theory elaborated in the West mainly in the 1990s has not been reflected in Czech gender studies. Is it possible to connect the study of gender in a post-communist East European country with the predominantly American intersection theory?, Marta Kolářová., and Obsahuje bibliografii
A strongly recommended conclusion in sociology about trends in class inequality has been summarised by Goldthorpe as a high degree of 'temporal constancy and cross-national communality'. This conclusion, here called 'the stability thesis', was first challenged by Ringen in 1987 and again, on more methodological grounds, by Ringen and Hellevik in two papers published in 1997. These challenges resulted in a process of debate and reassessment. It is now possible to sum up and conclude. The stability thesis rests on empirical results from odds-ratio readings of mobility table data. The authority of this methodology is re-examined in terms of normative significance and statistical validity. Mobility table data which have generated stability thesis findings are reanalysed with the standard gini-index methodology in the study of inequality, then yielding different findings which contradict the stability thesis. The main conclusion is that the stability thesis can now be considered overturned. Keywords: social inequality, social justice, social reform, class analysis, social stratification.