Durable Inequality

Charles Tilly, in this eloquent manifesto, presents a powerful new approach to the study of persistent social inequality. How, he asks, do long-lasting, systematic inequalities in life chances arise, and how do they come to distinguish members of different socially defined categories of persons? Exploring representative paired and unequal categories, such as male/female, black/white, and citizen/noncitizen, Tilly argues that the basic causes of these and similar inequalities greatly resemble one another. In contrast to contemporary analyses that explain inequality case by case, this account is one of process. Categorical distinctions arise, Tilly says, because they offer a solution to pressing organizational problems. Whatever the "organization" is--as small as a household or as large as a government--the resulting relationship of inequality persists because parties on both sides of the categorical divide come to depend on that solution, despite its drawbacks. Tilly illustrates the social mechanisms that create and maintain paired and unequal categories with a rich variety of cases, mapping out fertile territories for future relational study of durable inequality. Charles Tilly presents a powerful new approach to the study of persistent social inequality. Acknowledging that all social relations involve fleeting, fluctuating inequalities, he concentrates on those inequalities that last, often through whole careers, lifetimes, and organizational histories - durable inequalities. How do such long-lasting, systematic inequalities in life chances arise, and how do they come to distinguish members of different socially defined categories of persons? Exploring the nature, forms, and functioning of representative paired and unequal categories such as male/female, black/white, and citizen/noncitizen, Tilly argues that the basic causes of these and similar inequalities greatly resemble one another. In contrast to the case-by-case explanations that prevail in contemporary analyses of inequality, his account is one of process. Categorical distinctions arise, Tilly says, because they enable people who control access to value-producing resources to solve pressing organizational problems. Whatever the "organization" is - as small as a household or as large as a government - the resulting relationship of inequality persists because parties on both sides of the boundary dividing the categories come to depend on that solution, despite its drawbacks. KMBT25020110719135843......Page p0001.djvu KMBT25020110719140304......Page p0029.djvu KMBT25020110719140644......Page p0054.djvu KMBT25020110719141025......Page p0080.djvu KMBT25020110719141313......Page p0106.djvu KMBT25020110719141603......Page p0131.djvu Charles Tilly. The Irene Flecknoe Ross Lecture Series Was Established In The Department Of Sociology At The University Of California, Los Angeles, In 1987--t.p. Verso. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 247-290) And Index.