ABSTRACT
By contrasting objective variables with declarative information, the disconnection between socially shaped aspirations and actual social position helps clarify social class categories and their subjective significance. The analysis proposes articulating the economic variables of income and wealth with occupational categories to better understand social position through the relationship between accumulated wealth and annual income. The chapter discusses Piketty’s strengths and limitations in addressing wealth inequality in relationship to class analysis. Subjectivity’s treatment is a pitfall of his illuminating works. To go beyond this and, more broadly, the detrimental divide between economy and sociology in studying socioeconomic inequality, the chapter studies the hierarchical relationship between heritage and profession, particularly to uncover the underlying structure of aspirations. To do so, it empirically explores the relationships between age, occupation, income, and wealth in four significant European countries. The result is a new typology of class that integrates age and the life-cycle dimension of wealth accumulation.
