WIVES AND HUSBANDS - SOCIAL-CLASS, GENDER, AND CLASS IDENTIFICATION IN THE US

Two decades after Joan Acker (1973) castigated mainstream stratificati on research for its 'intellectual sexism', the debate over the impact that married women's paid employment has on class analysis is perhaps the most controversial issue in social stratification. Using two decad es of survey data from the U.S., we assess the conditions under which wife's class affects the class identification of both spouses. Our pri ncipal findings include: (a) although the class positions of both spou ses have an impact on class identification, husband's class is more im portant; (b) the explanatory power of wife's class does not appear to depend on gender inequality for men but does so for women; and (c) in certain situations, wife's class significantly modifies or reverses th e class leanings expected on the basis of husband's position.