Class Concepts and Stratification Research in Slovenia

Abstract

This article deals with the concept of class and class analysis in sociological research in the last few decades in Slovenia. It reveals the specific reasons for the relatively marginal role of this sort of analysis before and especially after 1990. First, it lists a selection of the key class and stratification studies during the communist era. Second, it describes the class and stratification studies that occurred before and around the regime change (1980–1991). Third, it describes a number of stratification research studies after 1991 (to the present), with many international components. The research efforts of a few influential research groups in Slovenia that have engaged in class and stratification studies, following special approaches, are presented and commented on: the Marxist tradition, a Bourdieuian approach focusing on symbolic discourse, and a structurally based labor process approach. In the conclusion, both a substantive and methodological account of relative achievements in the field are offered.