THE STUDY OF STRATIFICATION BY AMERICAN SOCIOLOGY, 1920-1970 (SOCIAL MOBILITY, CLASS, STRATUM, INEQUALITY, CHICAGO, COLUMBIA, HARVARD)

This study presents an analysis of the emergence of stratification as a major theoretical problem area in American sociology. The relatively late emergence of stratification as a problem area in American sociology illustrates the influences of disciplinary development patterns, cultural conditions, and the attitudes and values prevalent in society at large and among American sociologists.;It was hypothesized that the proportion of journal articles on stratification would increase between 1920 and 1970 as stratification became an important theoretical problem area in American sociology. A systematic sample of articles on stratification was selected from the three major journals of American sociology, the American Sociological Review, the American Journal of Sociology, and Social Forces. Textbooks on stratification and introductory textbooks were analyzed for each decade between 1920 and 1970 to provide an indication of the manner in which stratification was presented as a topic to undergraduate and graduate students in the field. The patterns of development revealed by this analysis were then related to the development of stratification as a course topic at the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Harvard University, three of the principal producers of graduates with advanced degrees in the field of sociology between 1920 and 1970.;There was an increase in the number of articles on stratification in each decade between 1920 and 1970, but little change in the percentage of all articles in the journals on stratification. Stratification did not become a major area of interest in the research literature until the final two decades studied. The majority of the research in stratification concentrated on three topics: sources of stratification, social mobility, and the impact of stratification on other social phenomena and institutions. The methodology used in most of the articles remained fairly simple, with percentage comparisons, proportions, and simple correlation being the principal methods used. Most of the research in the latter decades employed survey analysis and questionnaires, and there was a reduction in the number of articles employing longitudinal or field studies.;There was a general trend away from broad, general studies of stratification toward more specialized studies which focused on subareas of stratification. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).