Decomposition without death: A research agenda for a new class analysis

It has become fashionable to argue that stratification is taking on an incr easingly 'postmodern' form, as participation in lifestyles or communities b ecomes a function of individual taste, choice, and commitment rather than a direct reflection of class membership. Although postmodernism of this sort has become popular in some circles, relevant empirical analyses are few an d far between and have inevitably been carried out at a highly aggregate le vel, thereby muting or obscuring the local subcultures that are generated a t the more detailed occupational level. The great failing, then, of convent ional quantitative analyses of 'class effects' is that gemeinschaftlich occ upations are regarded as nominal categories and are therefore blithely aggr egated or dimensionalized. If analyses are instead ratcheted down to the di saggregate level of detailed occupations, the effects of class may become s ufficiently strong to cast doubt on the postmodernist retreat from producti on-based groupings. The purpose of this paper is to lay out the research ag enda that this line of reasoning implies. We review new lines of research o n such core sociological topics as (a) the underlying structure of social c lasses, (b) the reproduction of inequality across generations and over the lifecourse, (c) the social processes by which income streams are attached t o occupations, and (d) the consequences of class membership for lifestyles, attitudes, and consumption practices.