[OPE-L] Andrew Sayer Moral Significance of Class

[Rakesh Bhandari <bhandari@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: Andrew Sayer Moral Significance of Class

Very well written and insightful of the sociology of class

and the lay normativity in terms of which inequality

is understood. Important discussion of the debate about

class injuries from mis recognition and mal distribution.

Very illuminating discussion of Bourdieu's sociology,

and probing discussion of the hidden injuries of class

inequality. Not quite convinced that identity specific

mechanisms such as gender and race are as contingently

related to the economy as Sayer insists however. For

those interested in the statistical findings about

constraints on class mobility this book will surely

prove stimulating reading.

rb

Product Details:
ISBN: 0521616409
Format: Paperback, 256pp
Pub. Date: May 2005
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Series: Secondary Course Ser.

Moral Significance of Class

FROM THE PUBLISHER
The Moral Significance of Class analyses the moral aspects of people's experience of class inequalities. Class affects not only our material wealth but our access to things, relationships and practices which we have reason to value, including the esteem or respect of others and hence our sense of self-worth. It shapes the kind of people we become and our chances of living a fulfilling life. Yet contemporary culture is increasingly 'in denial' about class, finding it embarrassing to acknowledge, even though it can often be blatantly obvious. By drawing upon concepts from moral philosophy and social theory and applying them to empirical studies of class, this fascinating and accessible study shows how people are valued in a context in which their life-chances and achievements are objectively affected by the lottery of birth class, and by forces which have little to do with their moral qualities or other merits.

Moral Significance of Class

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
Introduction
1
2
>From the habitus to ethical dispositions
22
3
Recognition and distribution
52
4
Concepts of class : clearing the ground
70
5
Struggles of the social field
95
6
Moral and immoral sentiments and class
139
7
Responses to class I : egalitarianism, respect(ability), class pride and moral boundary drawing
169
8
Responses to class II : explanations, justifications and embarrassment
187
9
Conclusions and implications
213