Berch Berberoglu

Social classes and class structure are the most decisive forces that affect us in most everything we do in our lives. Human behavior varies in accordance with which class one belongs to and how one's class position and class consciousness translates into political action. The analysis of class structure and social transformation is the foundation of the macrosociological study of society in comparative historical perspective. An examination of the origins, development, and contradictions of social classes and class struggles over historical time and across national boundaries has been a preoccupation of social scientists concerned with social inequality and the impact of class on the structure and dynamics of societies around the world.

In this extraordinary book, Berch Berberoglu contends that an analysis of the class structure of society conveys the relationship between various social classes and how class relations and class conflict leads to an understanding of the class nature of social relations. A class analysis of society, therefore, he insists, is imperative for a clear understanding of the dynamics of class relations and class struggles.

Berberoglu shows that the process of transformation of societies from one social system to another depends on the nature and dynamics of class relations and class struggles that are historically specific in accordance with a society's dominant mode of production and its attendant superstructure. He goes on to argue that the study of the class structure of historical and contemporary societies, therefore, would inform us of the nature and dynamics of these societies and their transformation over time as determined by the level of development of their class contradictions.

This book addresses many of the questions raised on the nature and dynamics of class structure and social transformation in comparative historical perspective. It also brings to focus the centrality of class in the analysis of society and social structure. In this way the volume provides a concise statement of the decisive role played by class in shaping the contours of social life through time and across different societal boundaries - - one that has an enormous impact on society and social relations on a world scale.

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Theories of Social Class and Inequality: A Critical Analysis

2. The Marxist Theory of Class Structure and Class Struggle

3. The Historical Development of Class Systems

4. Class Structure of Advanced Capitalist Societies

5. Class Structure of Third World Societies

6. Class, Nation, and State: Nationalism and Class Struggle

7. Class, Race, and Gender

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

To read the "Introduction" and "Conclusion" of this book, click here [pdf file]

Publication date: 1994

ISBN: 0-275-94924-9

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