Class Position Research Articles

Post-industrialisation, occupational class structure, and fossil fuel taxation attitudes in Europe

ABSTRACT Climate change, with its temperature shifts, extreme weather, and rising sea levels, requires political decision-makers to implement effective and sustainable policies to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, the successful implementation of effective climate policies is contingent upon the existence of a supportive public opinion. In explaining public opinion on fossil fuel taxation, empirical research has mostly focused on determinants such as political orientation, trust, personal values and environmental beliefs, while the role of social class has received little attention. Using data from 2016/17 of the European Social Survey (ESS, Round 8 with 22 countries and 23,720 valid respondents), we analyse the impact on a country’s degree of post-industrialism (country-level) and social class position (individual-level) on attitudes towards the support for fossil fuel taxation in European countries. The results show that support for fossil fuel taxation is stronger in countries with higher share of post-industrial occupations. Moreover, the sociocultural specialists are more in favour of fossil fuel taxation than other classes, and the support for fossil fuel taxation policy is higher among most classes in more post-industrial countries, when compared with their counterparts in less post-industrial countries.

Marrying a Billionaire: Studying US American billionaires’ family biographies using the Forbes World’s Billionaires List, 2010–2022

Despite the recent findings on the inequality-increasing effect of homogeneous marriages, the growing body of literature on ‘the super-rich’, has missed out on illuminating contemporary global wealth inequality levels from a marital choice perspective. Not much is known about family formation at the top of the wealth distribution. By combining Forbes billionaires rich list data and billionaires’ Wikipedia articles with qualitative data, the paper presents a unique dataset capturing all US American billionaires (n = 948) and their spouses. The results suggest deeply ingrained traditional role allocations in billionaire couples. Female billionaires appear to be more likely to have a partner in the same upper-class fraction than male billionaires, who appear to be more liberal regarding their spouses’ class positions. By shedding light on the unique marriage demographics of the super-rich, the paper supports the importance of dynasty-making family strategies and social closure for understanding the economic elites of our times.

The movement of class: on occupation and everyday mobility patterns in the United States.

For much of the last century, class analysis has been a major area of sociology and has provided a critical lens through which scholars analyze social stratification. The attributes of certain class positions are of particular sociological interest given their impact on stratification and the possibility of greater inter- and intra-generational mobility. In this work, I explore one perspective of class analysis that has been neglected in the literature: everyday mobility patterns. As a result of the rising availability of rich cell phone data, everyday mobility patterns have become a popular data source for social science research. However, despite the clear theoretical relationship between everyday mobility patterns and class, little sociological research has connected these two concepts. The analysis, set in the United States, indicates that class-specifically, occupational class-is an extremely strong predictor of mobility patterns and that not all occupations are associated with the mobility patterns one might expect. The findings also indicate that certain occupations are disproportionally exposed to impoverished neighborhoods, and I thus theorize about the occupational attributes that matter most for everyday mobility patterns. I conclude by arguing that novel data sources have the potential to renew interest in class analysis.

Challenging elite environmentalism: Stories from Brazil and India

AbstractElite environmentalism is inspired by Malthusian overpopulation scenarios, advocating for authoritarian action through top‐down conservation policies and celebrating ecomodernist climate adaptation/mitigation projects. In doing so, hegemonic mainstream environmentalism (HME) fails to address its colonial, authoritarian, saviorist foundations, which continue to motivate much of environmentalism. But there are also ongoing challenges to this by the work of Indigenous, feminist, anti‐racist, anti‐casteist, anti/de/post‐colonial thinkers and doers. In this work, we build upon such provocations, and through ethnographic stories of non‐elite communities, envision an alternative to HME. We propose a temporary analytical frame that advocates for non‐elite visions of environmentalism—non‐elite and more‐than‐colonial environmentalisms (NEMCEs). We witness the labour and aspirations of non‐elite communities (Indigenous and peasant) from Mato Grosso, Brazil, and Uttarakhand, India, as they pursue lives of defiance and dignity. Their stories reveal the unresolved contradictions at the heart of the capitalist, colonial and scientific worldview. Exploring the contentious identity positions of caste, class, indigeneity and gender, we examine land‐use change and ecological governance with the A'uwe Indigenous community in the agrarian heartland of the Brazilian cerrado and with lower‐caste agrarian families navigating the powerful manifestations of Hindu nationalism and neoliberal territorial management in the Indian Himalayas. These stories help us present a response to HME. They challenge its insidious reproduction of certain elite aspirations and institutions while claiming to support planetary visions of ecological well‐being. Additionally, these moments of non‐elite agency provide moments of hope.

Description of the shape and position of the condyles in Kennedy classification class I, II, III, and IV patients through panoramic radiography

Objectives: Tooth loss occurs when the tooth detaches from the socket. Cases of partial tooth loss can cause differences in the shape and position of the condyles. This study aimed to know the description of the frequency distribution of normal and abnormal condyle shapes and positions in Kennedy classification case patients class I, II, III, IV. Materials and Methods: This research used a cross-sectional descriptive approach. The sample used secondary data from 120 digital panoramic radiographic photos of patients aged 30-70 from January 2018 to January 2024 at Ulin Hospital and Gusti Hasan Aman Hospital Banjarmasin. Results: Based on the research results at RSUD Ulin and RSGM Gusti Hasan Aman Banjarmasin, the round shape was the most common condyle shape found in patients with Kennedy classification, with most condyle positions pointing to the anterior. The change in the shape and position of the condyle becomes pathological due to the long-term loss of part of the tooth. Conclusion: The frequency distribution of the shape and position of the condyle of patients with Kennedy classification class I, II, III, IV was the round shape as the most common condyle shape experienced by patients which is one of the normal condyles shapes, and an abnormal position of TMJ condition pointing anteriorly.

Понимание пролетарского интернационализма в документах ВЛКСМ в 1950–1960-е годы

Khrushchev's interpretation of proletarian internationalism coincided with the expectations of the Soviet people and youth 40 years after the October Revolution in achieving its goals and objectives. The “calmingˮ moods in the USSR contributed significantly to the fragmentation of the world communist movement. The change in the terminology of the party documents of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union reflected this process. The short-lived radical moods among Soviet youth in the mid-1960s declined in the early 1970s. The fulfillment of the international duty by Soviet youth was reduced to establishing contacts with all youth organizations of the world, regardless of class and political position, and internationalism itself meant nothing more than advertising the achievements of the Soviet country.

Ideological Control against Heteronormativity in Forster's 'Maurice'

Set in Victorian to Edwardian England, the novel features a character with a homosexual identity, prompting this research on the character's non-conformity to heteronormative standards. This article aims to analyze the form of ideological control that emerges as the heteronormative norm in the novel Maurice through the perspective of class-consciousness Marxist, using Eagleton’s Ideology theory. Ideological theory through Marxist concepts, reveals context-based analysis of how economic structures shape ideology and social change. This article uses a descriptive-qualitative method with a mimetic approach, which describes the data collected through narration and dialogue from the novel. The findings categorize heteronormative norms as ideological control into three types: those stemming from religious dogma, the hegemony of masculinity in public schools, and the discourse on sexuality. Maurice explained the causal relationship between class position in the social strata and dominant norms, impacting the characters' lives.

Comparing countries, exporting classifications, surpassing methodological nationalism: Class, gender, and education gaps in and between France and Portugal

The ‘globalization turn’ in the sociology of class has led to the resurgence of studies comparing social classes in Europe over the past 20 years and to question the methodological nationalism of the class analysis. But it has also paid little attention to the selection of the most appropriate empirical tools for quantifying class in a comparative approach. This article explores the links between occupations, class structures, and countries by applying the French and the Portuguese occupational classifications to both countries. France and Portugal are an especially suitable pairing for comparative study because social class and inequalities are central to sociological research in both countries, and their divergent intellectual histories produced different tools for quantifying social stratification. The Portuguese classification, which attaches great importance to the ownership of capital, helps to understand the diversity of the class position of the self-employed and the structure of the economic elites. The French classification, based on employment status and qualifications, highlights the role of diplomas and the public/private divide. Ultimately, the Portuguese social structure appears to be more polarized than the French one. This cross-national and cross-classification comparison brings to light features of the social structures of the two countries and the contrasts between them that would have remained a blind spot if we had used an international classification. Paradoxically, these national classifications help to overcome methodological nationalism and ethnocentrism.

Comparison of treatment effects of herbst and advansync appliances on hyoid bone position and cervical posture in skeletal class II malocclusion – A prospective randomized clinical trial

Mandibular retrusion is the most common cause of Class II Division 1 malocclusion, which needs correction of the underlying skeletal discrepancy. The objective of this study was to evaluate the Hyoid bone position and cervical posture changes following treatment with two fixed functional appliances - Herbst and Advansync (Ormco, Orange, CA, USA) appliances in skeletal Class II malocclusion using pre and post treatment lateral cephalograms.For this randomized controlled trial,40 patients(21males and 19 females) were divided into two groups Group I, Herbst Appliance group (mean age: 12.6 +/- 0.67 years) and Group II, Advansync group (mean age: 12.8 +/- 0.66yrs). Pre and post-treatment (after appliance therapy of 8 months duration) lateral cephalograms were evaluated using Planmeca Romexis software 5.0.0.R version for hyoid bone position and cervical posture changes. The Hyoid bone had displaced anteriorly by 1.64 mm in Group I and in Group II by 1.97 mm. There was downward displacement of hyoid bone by 1.73 mm in Group I and 2.03 mm in Group II with reference to the Frankfort horizontal (FH) plane. The Mandibular plane-Odontoid process tangent angle used for determining upper cervical posture decreased by 7.13 in Group I, while by 0.33in Group II. This study concluded that both Herbst and Advansync appliances showed an improvement in hyoid bone position and the cervical posture while Advansync appliance demonstrated greater uprighting of cervical posture which was statistically significant.

A middle-class nation? The middle class and its moral boundaries in post-dictatorial Uruguay

AbstractIn this article, I examine the middle class as a contested category in contemporary Uruguay and the role of moral boundaries in its formation and maintenance. I contend that amidst the economic fragility experienced by the middle class, both individuals and the state grapple with the precarious position of the middle class. In this scenario, moral boundaries function as a crucial mechanism for navigating this uncertainty. Through an analysis of parliamentary debates and public statements of politicians, I redraw how, in these discourses, the middle class emerges as a moralized national and cultural identity centering around work ethic and colonial history. Central to my analysis is an examination of the historical material and symbolic struggles that have shaped the emergence and evolution of the middle class in Uruguay. Thus, I pay attention to its formative role during the early nineteenth century in the emergence and stabilization of the nation, as well as to the impact of the dictatorship (1972–1985). Finally, I show how these notions intersect with conceptions of (un)deservingness, ultimately legitimizing increasing punitivism.

Blackness, linguistic nationalism, and postcolonial class inequality in Haiti

AbstractThis ethnographic examination of a binary linguistic hierarchy in Haiti shares the critical terrain of Viranjini Munasinghe's unpacking of Caribbean creolization theory. It is a grounded inquiry into a problematic of ontology that inheres in techniques of making non‐white identities deployed by Caribbean privileged people of color at arm's length from a European colonial heritage that underpins their privileged class positions. Borrowing Munasinghe's analytic concept of theory made schizophrenic by ideology, the investigation reveals Haiti's francophone minority ideologically utilizing Haitian Creole as a black‐nationalist symbol in its domination of the monolingual Creole‐speaking majority. The ideological move devalues Creole while elevating French in the reproduction of class inequality. The linguistic schizophrenia undermines the theoretical nation‐building logic of Creole as national language. Failing practical validation of Creole in all spheres of Haitian life, I conclude, claims on the state and civil society by Haiti's vast monolingual Creole‐speaking majority cannot logically be validated.

A new urbanity in a suburban region: the perceived (im)possibilities of light rail among residents and stakeholders in Canada’s Waterloo Region

Recent scholarship on light rail transit (LRT) connects this infrastructure to broader processes of urban transformation, bringing to the forefront its significance beyond transportation functionality. However, much of the transportation literature does not adequately explore light rail’s diverse meanings. In this article, we draw on 65 semi-structured interviews with residents living along the new LRT line in Waterloo Region, Canada, as well as 20 key stakeholders, to identify the infrastructure’s perceived roles with respect to city building, urban identity, and neighbourhood change. We investigate how residents ascribe meaning to the LRT, and the extent to which these meanings align with stakeholders’ growth management objectives. In contrast to this focused planning rationale, the LRT evokes for residents a broader range of (im)possibilities that reflect their class positions and understandings of (sub)urban life in the region. Residents’ perspectives underline light rail’s implication in producing middle-class urbanity beyond its role in supporting an intensified, revitalized urban form. Here, light rail also reinforces existing urban middle-class identities and aspirations, which conflict with both dominant suburban identities and the experiences and fears of lower-income residents living along the route. These findings interrogate who is included in the type of city an LRT helps construct.

Labour platforms as mechanisms of class reproduction: middle-class interests as the basis of worker consent

Expansion of the platform economy has given rise to a paradox in the literature on gig work: Given capital’s imposition of algorithmic controls, why do so many platform workers express support and appreciation for gig work, viewing it as enhancing their autonomy? Approaches toward this question have advanced numerous explanations, such as gamification, neoliberal norms, and entrepreneurial culture. We find these efforts only partially successful, as they fail to explain why ideological incorporation so readily succeeds. We argue that responses to gig work are a function of the class positions that gig workers hold in the wider society, which lead to distinct orientations that they bring to gig work. For workers with a foothold in the middle class, gig work provides access to job rewards that may no longer be available via the conventional economy alone. They consequently experience gig work as a labour of affirmation – a stark contrast with the experience of those gig workers who hold subordinate positions in the class structure. Interview data with 70 respondents in the ride-hail, grocery-shopping and food-delivery sectors supports this approach. Consent to gig work is strongest among our better-off respondents, who hold more secure positions in the conventional economy and use gig work as a culturally-sanctioned mechanism of class reproduction. The implication is that class-based divisions among the platform workforce warrant greater attention than labour process theory has allowed.

Examining the Effect of Parents on Children’s Career Choices in the Context of Class Positions

This article delves into the social mobility strategies employed by parents and their descendants from diverse social classes in structuring educational pathways and vocational choices across successive generations. The study relies on qualitative data from in-depth interviews conducted in Ankara with 24 parents and 18 offspring. Data analysis reveals that the strategies parents and their offspring embrace are intricately shaped by their social class positions and the cultural, social, and economic capital available to the latter. Labourer families grappling with cultural capital limitations exhibit constrained guidance to their offspring. In contrast, self-employed professional families actively deploy their comprehensive cultural capital to perpetuate privileged class positions across generations. Business owners or commercial entrepreneurs, characterised by a distinctive outlook, view education as a pathway to attain heightened social status rather than as a means of upward mobility. To address the inequalities uncovered in this research, establishing counselling centres for families to guide how to mentor their children and for the children themselves to facilitate the discovery of their abilities and interests could offer a solution toward mitigating these inequalities.

Class and Ethno-Gender Differences in Education and Labour Market Position—An Intersectional Analysis of Ethnic Integration in the UK

This paper analyses the socio-economic disadvantages of women from different ethnic minority heritages in the UK. Using data from the Labour Force Survey (2014–2023), which contains detailed information on parental class and respondents’ socio-economic conditions, we examine four domains of life chances which are crucial for ethnic integration: educational attainment at the degree level, risks of unemployment, access to professional-managerial (salariat) position and earning power. We proceeded with the gross differences and then examined the differences by ethno-gender status and parental class combinations, controlling for many confounding factors. We also examined the net ethno-gender differences over the life course and the trends of social fluidity over the period covered and across the ethno-gender groups. We found that women from all ethnic origins were doing well in education but faced multiple disadvantages in the labour market, especially in access to the salariat and in earning power. Women of Pakistani/Bangladeshi heritages faced pronounced unemployment risks, especially at the earlier life stages. There is a significant increase in fluidity over the period covered, but this is marked by considerable ethnic and class differences, with Black Caribbean, Black African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women from more advantaged class origins being unable to secure advantaged class positions and those from working-class families unable to make long-range upward mobility as effectively as White men. Overall, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Black African and Black Caribbean women are found to be considerably disadvantaged, but there are also signs of social progress.

STRUGGLING FOR URBAN SPACE: Examining Social Distinctions between Long‐Term Residents and Newcomers in Warsaw's Districts

AbstractThis article examines the perspectives of long‐term residents in response to the influx of newcomers in two neighbourhoods in Warsaw, Poland. It addresses the crucial, yet understudied, impact of spatial changes on the local population and the diverse ways in which residents negotiate this changing urban context. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical framework and its subsequent reinterpretations in the field of urban studies, the article explores the extent to which the narratives constructed by the long‐standing residents refer to categories of social class and correspond to their class position. The central question is whether spatial changes lead them to ‘internalize their inferiority’ (Savage, 2008: 161), or if they possess resources that can be mobilized to navigate conflicts arising from urban transitions. Through individual and group interviews with residents from two districts in Warsaw, this research sheds light on how the symbolic divisions between ‘us’ (long‐term residents) and ‘them’ (newcomers) are framed. It demonstrates how nativity is transformed into capital, providing the possibility for symbolic dominance. Consequently, it not only enriches understanding of the social distinctions that are made within evolving cities but also underscores the ongoing relevance of Bourdieu's theoretical framework for the study of urban space.

How social class shapes breast cancer risk perspectives and prevention practices of Australian midlife women: a qualitative study using the concept of ‘breast cancer candidacy’

BackgroundThe increasing incidence of breast cancer and disease burden is a significant public health concern. While 30% of breast cancers could be prevented through addressing modifiable risk factors, misconceptions among women about breast cancer risks hamper primary prevention. In the absence of primary prevention, secondary prevention such as mammography increases the early detection of breast cancer and improves health outcomes. However, current population-level screening rates indicate secondary prevention is suboptimal. More effective public health efforts to improve breast cancer prevention are required. Given breast cancer is socially patterned, this work explores how social class impacts women’s breast cancer prevention practices. This study uses the concepts of lay epidemiology and candidacy as a mechanism to understand women’s breast cancer risk perspectives. It engages Bourdieu’s relational social class theory to unpack how women’s social, cultural, and structured life contexts shape these perspectives and their considerations regarding primary and secondary prevention.MethodsIn this qualitative study 43 Australian midlife women (aged 45–64 years), were interviewed to explore their understandings of breast cancer risks, how they perceived their own risk, and how this shaped their prevention behaviours. A theory-informed thematic analysis applying Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital, and fields to understand how women’s social class positions shapes risk perspectives and prevention practices was conducted.ResultsThis social class analysis showed differences in how women engage in breast cancer discourse, consider risks, and participate in breast cancer prevention. Middle-class women prioritise health promoting practices and were more likely than working-class and affluent women to attend mammography screening. Working-class women experience structural factors, like low income, stress and difficult life circumstances, which hamper primary prevention practices and for some screening is not considered or prioritised, and their decisions not to screen are less active. Affluent women often do not consider themselves at-risk due to their healthier ‘lifestyles. ’They suggest that this, and their knowledge of screening benefits and harms allows them to make informed decisions not to screen.ConclusionsWomen interpret and understand breast cancer risks differently and enact prevention practices within the parameters afforded by their social class positions. These findings are useful to inform improved public health approaches regarding both modifiable breast cancer risks and increasing mammography screening. To improve equity in breast cancer prevention efforts, such approaches must respond to limitations based on social class and address structural factors that impact prevention practices.

Passive fit and time efficiency for prefabricated versus conventionally constructed cobalt chromium CAD\\CAM 3-unit implant supported frameworks in free end saddle models: a pilot invitro study

BackgroundThe passive fit of 3-unit implant supported prefabricated metal screw-retained prosthesis before implant placement might be difficult. Hence, we aim to evaluate the passive fit and time efficiency of CAD/CAM 3-unit implant supported fixed prostheses that were constructed based on virtual versus those based on actual implant positions in Kennedy Class I models.MethodsA sample of 5 Kennedy class I models with thin wiry ridges were restored by 20 frameworks bilaterally, 10 based on actual (group A) and 10 based on virtual (group V) implant positions. The models were imaged using cone beam computed tomography and scanned using an intraoral scanner. The STL (Standard Tessellation Language files) and the DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) files were registered on a 3D planning software. A CAD/CAM surgical guide was planned, resin printed and used for installing 6 implants bilaterally. In group V, the framework was designed based on the virtual scan bodies and virtual multi-unit abutments, while in group A intra-oral scanning of the model after attaching the scan bodies was necessary. Frameworks of both groups were milled and tested for passive fit using 8 clinical tests. McNemar and Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to study the effect of the group on passive fit and time efficiency, respectively. The significance level was set at P ≤ 0.05.ResultsNo statistically significant difference was found between group V and group A frameworks regarding passive fit (p-value = 1, OR = 0.5) and time efficiency (P = 0.179, Effect size = 0.948).ConclusionWithin the limitations of this study, it can be concluded that in free end saddle cases, prefabricated CAD\\CAM 3-unit implant-supported cobalt chromium screw retained prostheses can achieve an adequate passive fit. However, their fit might be negatively affected in thin ridges and they might require some adjustments.

Class inequality, power, and trust in private companies: evidence from Latin America

AbstractIn the last few years, legitimacy has proven to be a fundamental power resource for the business class. Building on the idea of “discursive power,” investigations have demonstrated that when the business class successfully shapes public discourses and public opinion, its power increases. With this article, we contribute to this research by showing that businesses’ success in building discursive power, as expressed in individual trust in private companies, is limited by individual- and macro-level factors associated with class inequality, class politics, and power. Using data from 15 Latin American countries (2005–2015), we show that in the period studied, the propensity to trust private companies was significantly lower among those in underprivileged class positions (e.g., working-class people or the informal self-employed) and among those who identify with the political left and have less confidence in political institutions. At the macro level, trust in companies was lower in countries ruled by the left or in countries where inequality rose or where citizens’ trust in political institutions improved. At the end of this article, we identify three patterns of business legitimacy in Latin America and show how our results contribute to the recent research on trust, class, and power.

Covert carcerality for “high‐income cheap labor”: Indian tech workers in the United States

AbstractIn racial capitalism, employers increase their profit by recruiting “cheap labor,” who are typically racialized minorities. States and employers govern these workers by carceral means, variously confining them, extracting their labor, and ensuring that they remain docile enough not to protest and demand better wages and rights. But how are workers—who draw high wages yet experience labor devaluation or “cheapening”—governed? Based on interviews and participant observation, I study Indian immigrant tech workers in the United States. To distinguish their class position, I characterize them as “high‐income cheap labor” and contend that these workers are governed by “covert carcerality”—where the material privilege of high income and documented migration make their labor devaluation by carceral means insidious. I identify three mechanisms of covert carcerality—neutral enclosures, informalization, and restricted family formation. The covert carcerality of high‐income cheap labor reveals the class‐based variations of carceral labor governance in neoliberal capitalism.