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Some of the most prominent characteristics of the early modern period are increasing control over human bodies and the increasing class differences in bodily practices. The rigid class society prevailing in early modern Sweden was reflected in the way people in different classes were expected to behave, dress and eat, amongst other things. This paper discusses how bodily practices -- with foodways and dress as case studies -- were involved in negotiating class identities in a small town on the northern edge of Europe. It will examine how disciplinary codes of bodily behaviour were played out on the geographical margins of European society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors discuss the paper of Kraus and colleagues regarding social class and the impact of wealth on prestige and social rank dynamics. They explore how wealth affects the distribution of social rank and the rank-based social relationships, arguing that wealth and resource control is one of the critical conceptual of class. They state that the theory of Kraus and colleagues provides important contribution to literature due to its engagement to the psychology of wealth and social class.

The authors discuss the argument of Kraus and colleagues on their paper regarding social class differences. They explore the social ladder theory used by Kraus and colleagues which argues that people act on the subjective perception according to their social rank. They hope that the theory of Kraus and colleagues will provide an impetus with great focus on the impact of social class on cross-class dynamics. They state that social class is alive, however, it is not culture-free.

Studies of the British in Egypt during the British occupation (1882-1922) have generally focused on the lives and exploits of the upper- and middle-class Britons who served in the military or in the civil service. Drawing from private papers, census data, court archives and business records, this article describes the socio-economic space inhabited by non-official upper- and middle-class Britons as well as those from the lower middle and working classes within the hierarchical structure of Egypt's British community. It discusses the income levels of British upper-middle-class lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers, bankers, businessmen, clergymen and missionaries; lower-class clerks, artisans and policemen; and working-class tradesmen, railway workers and domestic servants in the context of both their Egyptian and British socio-economic environment. The research also seeks to illuminate some of the hardship, inequality and snobbery that working-class Britons encountered in Egypt. Throughout the analysis, comparisons between the income levels for similar occupations of the British in Egypt and their counterparts in Britain are used to discern possible motivations for their working abroad. Since little research has been done regarding the non-elite Britons in Egypt during the occupation and particularly concerning those from the lower classes, this effort aims to be a useful contribution to knowledge of British imperial history and the colonial experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trend within studies of voting and political attitudes has been to give less attention to class as a structuring dimension and more to postmaterial values. The basic argument of this article is that this is a false opposition: The adherence to different sets of values is related to social background, although in complex ways, which can only be discovered with a multidimensional conception of class. This conception may be found in Pierre Bourdieu's analytical approach, which is here applied in an analysis of survey data from the Danish city of Aalborg. Data from a survey of political attitudes are subjected to multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), which reveals a pattern of attitudes that is highly structured by both the old and the new dimensions of politics. Up to this point, the results converge with the state of the art. However, the methodology utilised (MCA) allows one to link the constructed space of attitudes to a set of indicators based on a two-dimensional conception of social class. On the basis of this analysis, the article concludes that the political landscape appears as highly structured by the two principles of social differentiation from Bourdieu's class model: volume and composition of capital. The conclusion is that social class understood in this way is closely related to both old and new politics, as well as to the propensity to vote for a political party from the left- or right-wing alliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the effects of the legalization of international human rights on citizens and non-citizens within states. Adopting a sociological approach to rights it becomes clear that, even in Europe, the cosmopolitanization of law is not necessarily resulting in greater equality and justice. In fact, 'actually existing' cosmopolitan citizenship is characterized by a proliferation of status groups that concretize new forms of inequality, including those of super-citizens, marginal citizens, quasi-citizens, sub-citizens and un-citizens. Far from inaugurating a new era of genuinely universal human rights, in some cases cosmopolitan law may even contribute to the creation of conditions in which fundamental human rights are violated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the social class and new working class studies, and sociology. Details concerning the contemporary trends in sociological class analysis is presented, followed by discussion on how a new field of working class studies helps develop a more specific and advance study and discussion of social stratification. A class analysis in Great Britain was known as in fast decline within sociology. It is mentioned that a new working class studies should recognize the value of working class culture without denying its relevance to the society.

Scholars have posited various theories as to which sector of society Mary Norton’s Borrowers most closely reflect, from exploitative aristocrats to helpless victims. Through social and literary contextualization, this article highlights the ways in which Norton represents social class in the series and explores the competing ideologies embedded in the texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers a framework for investigating class and class differences in the early years of America's nationhood and the elites of the United States. Elites are groups of people who are a distinct minority, who cannot even be a sizeable plurality and who are distinguishable from the rest of the population. The bottom of the materialistic/mechanistic bifocal lens through which one can view class is the most basic: follow the money, and specifically, the degree to which people had access to capital as a critical measure of elites in the early republic. Elites signaled their sense of status through affectations, consumption patterns, and social attitudes.

The first of these papers looks again at the opening of Manchester's first public library in 1852, and the celebrities who attended. Though the library was intended for the working classes, the latter had no role to play at the occasion. Secondly, a sketch is provided of the career of George Chandler, chief librarian of Liverpool's public libraries between 1952 and 1974. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role of (dis)empowerment as a central phenomenon of social class. Experience of power is found to shape self-concept, which affects everyday consumption practices. Self-perceptions were found to range from potent actor through to impotent reactor, and expectations for the future ranged from one of opportunity through to threat. These self-perceptions have been imbued as personal values that guide preferred ways of doing and being. They flow into the financial domain, with professionals setting themselves up for opportunity and growth, taking a very broad perspective on investing, and engaging in more elaborate budget planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the embodiment of class and gender in a subject through the conferring of social identity on it. The author utilizes French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's understanding of the cultural and symbolic aspects of class divisions in order to investigate this idea of the imposition of social norms. More specifically, the connection between class distinction and gender are analyzed through the lens of Bourdieu's concept of the habitus, with particular focus given to the construction of feminine identity. The ways in which class and gender identity can inform political struggles are then discussed, with focus given to mothers' protests against housing for child sex abusers in the early 21st century and their depictions in the press.

Traditionally, the study of street children has proceeded by locating these kids in social categories such as the poor, the destitute, the vulnerable population or the population at risk Other scholarly traditions have advanced the view that street children belong with the socially excluded groups. However both approaches treat these children as if their life experiences are not linked to the general class structure and the State. The argument I advance in this article is that an improved understanding of street children's everyday existence is to include them in a social class, namely: the socially excluded class. I argue that the class and exclusion paradigms are well suited to one another insofar as some excluded persons participate in the division of labor The proposed approach leads us to focus upon a set of empirical dimensions related to the lives of street children: their commonality of experience, their exploitation of social capital as a means for survival, their participation in the division of labor, their relational experience and the nature of the collective action they engage in to defend their interests. I conclude by arguing that this approach constitutes a comprehensive analytical framework that allows us to better organize and obtain knowledge concerning the social life of street children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analysis of community opposition to group homes for the mentally handicapped uses data from a survey of New Jersey group home providers. It indicates that deteriorating neighborhoods are most likely to organize in opposition, but that upper-middle class neighborhoods are most likely to enjoy private access to local officials and can, therefore, lobby effectively in opposition to group homes in their neighborhoods. Generally, lower and lower-middle class neighborhoods do not have lobbying privileges and must rely on mass-mobilization, petition campaigns, and other public political tactics that are less effective in influencing local officials. If, however, they gain access to local officials and secure lobbying privileges, they are no less successful than their upper-middle class counterparts in influencing them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Class analysis traditionally has focused on the position of men in the occupational system: Women have been ignored completely or classified according to the status of the male head of household. This approach implies that women derive their class identities from the class locations of their husbands. However, recent research suggests that this "conventional" view of class analysis is challenged by women's increasing independence from men. I address this issue using comparative data for the United States, Sweden, Norway, and Australia. I use a series of logistic regression models to examine the relationship between husband's and wife's class locations and subjective class identifications. Results indicate that husband's class location is a significant predictor of husband's and wife's class identifications. Education is also a key determinant of subjective class identity. There is no evidence of significant differences among countries in these patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that if a family of items is divided into two mutually exclusive classes it is economical to define the more complex class in terms of the less complex one. For the purpose of this experiment the 'complexity' of a class is defined in terms of the number of discriminably different members included within it. The 'relative class complexity,' or ratio, of two classes is the number of members in the smaller class to the number of members in the larger class. As the ratio of the complexity of two classes approaches unity any advantages of definition by exclusion should diminish; At some ratio less than unity the advantages of definition in terms of the less complex class should be balanced by the disadvantages of definition by exclusion. These considerations only apply when a response is to be made to the members of one class but not to members of the other since if both classes are associated with their own response the instructions can always be transformed in such a way as to allow the subject to work in terms of the least complex class defined by inclusion.