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This paper is intended as a contribution to the formal theory of stratification systems. The paper has five sections. In Section I, a method for analytically inducing an order over a multi-dimensional status is discussed. It is believed that such a technique can aid in the specification of conceptual tasks within stratification theory, as well as serve as a baseline in actual measurements. It is subsequently employed in the axiomatic work of Sections 3 and 4. In Section 2, there is a brief discussion of the axiomatic method as a prelude to the system developed in the following two sections. In Section 3, the axioms are stated. In Section 4, various elementary consequences of the axioms are shown; most importantly, various concepts which are intuitively important in stratification theory are shown to be definable (e.g., a class system with a determinate number of classes). Finally, in Section s, there is a concluding discussion of the picture of stratification which emerges within this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IN A RECENT paper Mr. Runciman concludes by inviting replies to his argument that it is logically and conceptually useful to employ the tripartite distinction between `class' `status' and `power' in the analysis of social stratification. Mr. Runciman does not, of course, deny the existence of links between these three dimensions, but suggests that such links must be seen contingent empirical relationships and not necessary logical ones. I hope that the following paper will provide such a reply. It must be clear that the following criticism is directed, in the main, to those parts of the paper in which Mr. Runciman is concerned with the logical and conceptual problem. The essay in question also contains a clear and valuable assessment of the problems encountered in any attempt to measure the three types of inequality. In the first part of the paper I propose to give a critical assessment of certain central aspects of Mr. Runciman's argument and, in the second part, I will put forward a very brief formulation of what I consider to be a more meaningful alternative view of the relationships between class, status, and power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applications of optimal matching analysis in the social sciences are typically based on sequences of specific social statuses that model the residential, family, or occupational trajectories of individuals. Despite the broadly recognized interdependence of these statuses, few attempts have been made to systematize the ways in which optimal matching analysis should be applied multidimensionally-that is, in an approach that takes into account multiple trajectories simultaneously. Based on methods pioneered in the field of bioinformatics, this paper proposes a method of multichannel sequence analysis (MCSA) that simultaneously extends the usual optimal matching analysis (OMA) to multiple life spheres. Using data from the Swiss household panel (SHP), we examine the types of trajectories obtained using MCSA. We also consider a random data set and find that MCSA offers an alternative to the sole use of ex-post sum of distance matrices by locally aligning distinct life trajectories simultaneously. Moreover, MCSA reduces the complexity of the typologies it allows to produce, without making them less informative. It is more robust to noise in the data, and it provides more reliable alignments than two independent OMA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its frequent use by sociologists there has been relatively little discussion of the practical difficulties involved in operationalizing the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) system of social class allocation. Using social class coding data from a national study of child development this paper examines one problem which occurs when using the OPCS scheme - illegal combinations of employment status and occupational codes. Attention is only focused on occupations falling into Social Class I and for these professional occupations it is shown that illegal combinations are the result of the OPCS conceptualization of the professions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost a decade and a half after the start of the civil disturbances in Ulster, there remains scholarly disagreement over how extensive economic disparities between Protestants and Catholics were when the disturbances began in the late 1960s. This paper applies multivariate regression techniques to 1968 survey data to examine these disparities. The picture that emerges is a complex one. The apparently lower levels of occupational status among Catholics appear not to be due to discrimination but largely reflect differences in education and family background. But a substantial disparity in income remains, and cannot be accounted for so easily. More detailed analysis shows that Catholics born into elite families were greatly disadvantaged, while those born into average families were only slightly disadvantaged, if at all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]