ABSTRACT
Going beyond the stylised description of a small number of distinct social classes, social stratification has become a broad and diversified field of research. This chapter gives an overview of various analytical perspectives and measures of social stratification as they are used in empirical research. Starting with simple cross-sectional descriptions of the central dimensions of social inequality, it discusses a number of important conceptual distinctions that have provided the basis for specific developments in stratification research, such as units of analysis, temporal dimensions, intergenerational social mobility and reproduction, and intragenerational mobility. A life course perspective helps to overcome the systematic limitations of conventional approaches.
