Contents

Cover

Dedication

Title Page

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction

1.1 The importance of inequality
1.2 Equality and inequality: concepts and definitions
1.3 Inequalities across groups
1.4 Coverage and key themes
Questions for reflection
Further reading

2 Class

2.1 Concepts, definitions, measurement
2.2 Class distributions and inequalities
2.3 Social mobility
Questions for reflection
Further reading

3 Gender

3.1 Definitions, concepts and coverage
3.2 Gender inequalities in work
3.3 Gender and domestic work: women’s double burden?
3.4 Gender, class and caring: inequalities between women
Questions for reflection
Further reading

4 Ethnicity

4.1 Ethnicity: definitions and measures
4.2 Ethnic groups and diversity
4.3 Ethnic minorities in the labour market
Questions for reflection
Further reading

5 Youth and Age

5.1 Inequalities across the life course
5.2 Inequalities in youth and age
5.3 Inequalities in mid-life
Questions for reflection
Further reading

6 Education

6.1 Qualifications and inequality
6.2 Education and gender
6.3 Education, ethnicity and intersections
6.4 Higher education and inequality
Questions for reflection
Further reading

7 Income, Wealth and Poverty

7.1 Concepts and measures
7.2 Illustrating inequalities in income, wealth and poverty
7.3 Ethnic minority women’s poverty
Questions for reflection
Further reading

8 Health and Disability

8.1 Disability, definitions and scope of chapter
8.2 Disability and inequality
8.3 Health inequalities
Questions for reflection
Further reading

9 Housing and Geography

9.1 Deprived areas
9.2 Housing
Questions for reflection
Further reading

10 Conclusions: Inequality, Intersectionality and Diversity

References

Index

End User License Agreement

Figures

Figure 2.1 Men’s social class by birth cohort

Figure 2.2 Women’s social class by birth cohort

Figure 2.3 Distributions of class destinations by origins, England and Wales, 1971/81–2001

Figure 3.1 Employment rates of men and women in selected countries, 2009

Figure 3.2 Unemployment rates of men and women across selected countries, 2009

Figure 3.3 Employment rates by age band, men and women, UK, 2008

Figure 3.4 Occupational distribution of men and women, UK, 2008

Figure 3.5 Predicted pay of men and women in different partnership circumstances and holding characteristics constant, Great Britain

Figure 3.6 Division of household chores by sex, UK, 2000

Figure 4.1 Employment status by sex and ethnicity, Great Britain, 2004–7

Figure 4.2 Men’s employment rates by ethnic group, 2004

Figure 4.3 Women’s employment rates by ethnic group, 2004

Figure 5.1 Rowntree’s perspective on the life-cycle alternation of poverty and prosperity

Figure 5.2 Pay across age groups

Figure 5.3 Prevalence and ‘incidence’ of disability, by age group

Figure 5.4 Poverty risks of pensioners, by age band, 2007/8

Figure 5.5 Men’s and women’s earnings trajectories

Figure 6.1 Percentage of school leavers achieving five+ A–C (or pass) O-levels or A*–C GCSEs, by gender, 1962–2006

Figure 6.2 Stock of qualifications by ethnic group: men

Figure 6.3 Stock of qualifications by ethnic group: women

Figure 6.4 Patterns of qualifications accord to whether UK born: men

Figure 6.5 Patterns of qualifications according to whether UK born: women

Figure 6.6 Educational qualifications across ethnic groups and by generation: men

Figure 6.7 Educational qualifications across ethnic groups and by generation: women

Figure 6.8 Percentage of children achieving level 2 qualifications, by ethnic group and sex, England, 2005

Figure 6.9 Percentage of boys achieving level 2 qualifications, by receipt of free school meals, England, 2005

Figure 6.10 Percentage of boys of selected ethnic groups achieving level 2 qualifications, by FSM receipt, England, 2005

Figure 6.11 Standardized test scores for a panel of non-FSM girls passing through school

Figure 6.12 Standardized test scores for a panel of non-FSM boys passing through school

Figure 6.13 Standardized test scores for a panel of FSM girls passing through school

Figure 6.14 Standardized test scores for a panel of FSM boys passing through school

Figure 7.1 Distribution of incomes, UK, 2007/8

Figure 7.2 Distribution of individual income by family type, UK, 2007/8

Figure 7.3 Distribution of individual income by selected characteristics, UK, 2007/8

Figure 7.4 Distribution of individual income according to savings, UK, 2007/8

Figure 7.5 Distribution of wealth, Great Britain, 2006/8

Figure 7.6 Wealth by age, Great Britain, 2006/8

Figure 7.7 Wealth and social class, Great Britain, 2006/8

Figure 7.8 Individual and equivalent household income, by sex and ethnic group

Figure 7.9 Women’s individual and equivalent household income and poverty rates compared with those of majority group men, by ethnic group

Figure 7.10 Equivalent and individual income of white British, black Caribbean and black African women, by age group, Great Britain, 2002/3–2006/7

Figure 7.11 Equivalent and individual income of white British, Indian and Chinese women, by age group, Great Britain, 2002/3–2006/7

Figure 7.12 Equivalent and individual income of white British, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women, by age group, Great Britain, 2002/3–2006/7

Figure 8.1 Employment status of men and women, by whether disabled

Figure 8.2 Pay gaps of men and women, by whether disabled

Figure 8.3 Long-term limiting illness across selected ethnic groups, by sex, England and Wales, 2001

Figure 9.1 Housing tenures, 1951–2002

Figure 9.2 Housing tenure by ethnic group, England, 2008

Tables

Table 2.1 Change in occupational structure, 1971/81–2001

Table 2.2 The five most common occupations, 1991 and 2001, by ethnic group: men

Table 2.3 The five most common occupations, 1991 and 2001, by ethnic group: women

Table 2.4 Upward mobility and stability among men and women, by cohort

Table 2.5 Odds ratios of service-class outcomes, comparing those with service-class and working-class origins

Table 4.1 Distribution of ethnic groups across England and Wales, 2004–8

Table 4.2 Percentage of the UK’s main minority ethnic groups born in the UK

Table 4.3 Age and family structure of selected ethnic groups

Table 4.4 Pay of men and women in full-time work, by ethnic group

Table 6.1 Achievement of level 2 (five+ GCSEs grades A*–C) among year 11 boys and girls, England

Table 6.2 Percentage of children obtaining five+ GCSEs grades A*–C, by social class of parents, England

Table 6.3 Boys and girls achieving five+ GCSEs grades A*–C, by receipt of free school meals, England, 2006/7

Table 7.1 Risks of poverty and percentage of poor, by different family and household characteristics, UK, 2007/8

Table 7.2 Poverty rates across selected ethnic groups, Great Britain, 2004/5–2006/7

Table 8.1 Some characteristics of disabled and non-disabled people in paid work

Table 8.2 Mean pay and pay at different percentiles of the wage distribution, by disability

Table 8.3 Social class inequalities in mortality: cross-class ratios of deaths per 1,000 for women and men, England, 1981–5 and 1986–92

Table 8.4 Life expectancy by class and sex at birth and age sixty-five, England, 2002–5

Table 9.1 Sample of the Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2007, England

Table 9.2 Highest and lowest local authority unemployment and employment rates, UK, June 2008 – June 2009

Table 9.3 Distribution of housing, by tenure, England, 1938–2003

Boxes

Box 1.1 Defences of inequality

Box 2.1 Registrar General’s social class scheme

Box 2.2 Goldthorpe class schema

Box 2.3 The NS-SEC

Box 3.1 Pay gaps

Box 4.1 Sources of variation across the UK’s minority groups

Box 4.2 Potential reasons for differences in work and pay

Box 4.3 Ascertaining discrimination

Box 5.1 Age, cohort, period

Box 5.2 Factors influencing the economic vulnerability of older people and the gendered differences in old-age poverty

Box 8.1 Health and healthcare

Box 8.2 The context of health inequalities

Box 8.3 Explaining health inequalities: some candidates

Box 9.1 Levitas’s characterization of the moral underclass

Box 9.2 Housing tenures

Box 10.1 Social groups

The right of Lucinda Platt to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2011 by Polity Press

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Emma Longstaff of Polity, who originally encouraged me to start thinking about this book, and Jonathan Skerrett, who saw it through to completion with remarkable patience and with helpful and constructive comments. It has been a pleasure to work with him. I have drawn on the contributions of many scholars, and I am grateful to all those who allowed me to reproduce illustrations from their work or from our joint work. Much of this book draws on ideas developed through teaching in the Sociology Department at the University of Essex, and I worked on it while at the Institute of Social and Economic Research, also at the University of Essex. Essex is a stimulating and supportive workplace, and I learnt much on issues of inequality and difference from colleagues in both departments. I also learnt much about stratification and mobility from attendance at the meetings of the Research Committee 28 of the International Sociological Association. David Colclough provided detailed and invaluable comments on two chapters, as well as consistent encouragement. My thinking about inequality gained much from the work of and conversation with Stephen Jenkins, from whom I have learnt a huge amount. I am grateful for the comments of three reviewers who took the trouble to comment in detail on the book, one of whom additionally sent helpful comments on the revised version. As a result of their suggestions and comments, I believe the book is much stronger – and more readable. The manuscript was substantially advanced while I was visiting the Melbourne Institute during autumn 2009 and was completed while taking up a Marie Curie Fellowship at the Institute of Economic Analysis (IAE), Barcelona, during 2010. I am grateful to the directors of both institutes, Mark Wooden and Clara Ponsati, for their hospitality and for providing such excellent working environments. Since much of this book started life in the seminar room, it is dedicated to the students with whom I shared so many happy and stimulating exchanges. In particular, it is for Jane Brown, whose tragic loss following her early death in December 2010 is keenly felt.

Understanding Inequalities

Stratification and Difference

Acknowledgements