Durable Inequality

Front Cover
University of California Press, 1998 - Business & Economics - 299 pages
"Durable Inquality solidifies Charles Tilly's reputation as one of the world's most creative social scientists. It is a work of considerable theoretical scope and imagination. Tilly's original framework clearly reveals and thoroughly explains the similar social processes that create different forms of social inequality."—William Julius Wilson, author of The Truly Disadvantaged

"A highly sophisticated yet extremely accessible reconstruction of a core sociological problem. . . . Durable Inequality is one of those exceptional books that provides both a compelling rereading of familiar issues and an inspiring vision for future research."—Elisabeth S. Clemens, author of The People's Lobby

"In a refreshing book characterized by deep insight into social structure and relations and displaying a rich historical sweep, Tilly has constructed a major challenge to contemporary individualistic interpretations of persistent economic inequality."—Richard A. Easterlin, author of Growth Triumphant

"Clearly the work of a master. . . . The book provides a new and rigorous understanding of one of the key facts of social life."—Bruce G. Carruthers, author of City of Capital

"The insights in this book offer the opportunity to revitalize the study of social stratification with a version of organizational theory, and reconnect both to political sociology."—Neil Fligstein, author of The Transformation of Corporate Control
 

Contents

Of Essences and Bonds
1
From Transactions to Structures
41
How Categories Work
74
Modes of Exploitation
117
How to Hoard Opportunities
147
Emulation Adaptation and Inequality
170
The Politics of Inequality
193
Future Inequalities
229
References
247
Index
291
Copyright

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About the author (1998)

Social scientist Charles Tilly was born in Lombard, Illinois on May 27, 1929. He graduated from Harvard Univeristy with a bachelor's degree in 1950 and a docorate in sociology in 1958. He also studied at Oxford University and the Catholic University in Angers, France. During the Korean War, he served in the Navy. He taught sociology and political science at numerous univeristies including the University of Delaware, Harvard University, the University of Toronto, the University of Michigan and Columbia University. During his lifetime, he wrote 51 books and monographs and more than 600 scholoarly articles. He received numerous awards including the Albert O. Hirschman Award from the Social Science Research Council. He died from lymphoma on April 29, 2008.