Abstract
Self-concept theory and research (Rosenberg, 1979; Gecas and Burke, 1995; McCall and Simmons, 1966) takes as a central goal demonstration of the fact that the self “matters” (i.e., is not an epiphenomenon) for social behavior and the organization of society. In this chapter, I explore some ways in which self and identity matter—as both “social product” and “social force” (Rosenberg, 1981)—for the study of social stratification and inequality. The goal of this paper is to review some existing research lying at the intersection of the study of self and stratification, and to suggest several ways in which such scholarship can be further developed. Special emphasis is placed on integrating key concepts from “identity theory” (Stryker and Burke, 2000) into our understanding of stratification processes.
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Hunt, M.O. (2003). Identities and Inequalities. In: Burke, P.J., Owens, T.J., Serpe, R.T., Thoits, P.A. (eds) Advances in Identity Theory and Research. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9188-1_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9188-1_6
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