ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the effects of class and ethnic stratification on economic inequality. The concept of ethnicity is defined more exactly and it is shown that most nation-states of the present-day world are characterized by significant degrees of ethnic differentiation and ethnic conflict. Political parties are of central importance in the interaction process between class formation, social stratification and ethnic differentiation. Gumplowicz's theory focusing on the interests of ethnic groups and related conflicts clearly is a one-factor theory, in formal terms similar to that of Marx. There were some authors who developed more specific concepts relating to the interaction between class and ethnic stratification which seem very useful for the present work in specific contexts. The measurement of the relevance and weight of ethnic differentiations within the present-day states of the world is no easy task; it is most difficult for the dimension of ethnic membership in the more narrow bio-social sense, but for language and religion.
