Divisions and Solidarities

Traditionally, class analysis has exaggerated the role of economic differentiation, particularly that of the informal economy, and has underestimated the degree of common consciousness amongst the `labouring class'. In Divisions and Solidarities, Alison MacEwen Scott examines class analysis and the inter-relationship between gender and class which creates a shared interest between men and women in some contexts and a divergence of interest in others. Using case studies of the urban population in Latin America, she presents a major critique of existing class theories and presents a new theoretical treatment on class formation, the orthodoxy of the informal economy, class consciousness and political participation.

Alison MacEwen Scott is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Essex.

Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Class, gender and the informal sector; Chapter 3 Growth, inequality and mobility; Chapter 4 Family, gender and the labouring class; Chapter 5 Divisions amongst the labouring class; Chapter 6 Mobility within the labouring class I; Chapter 7 Mobility within the labouring class II; Chapter 8 Employment, family and class; Chapter 9 Consciousness and political action; Chapter 10 Conclusions;