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The notions of class (varṇa) and caste (jāti) run through the Dharmaśāstra literature on all levels. They regulate marriage, economic transactions, work, punishment, penance, entitlement to rituals, identity markers like the sacred thread, and social interaction in general. Although this social structure was ideal in nature and not equally confirmed in other genres of ancient and medieval literature, it has nevertheless had an immense impact on Indian society. The chapter presents an overview of the system with its three privileged classes, the Brahmins, the Kṣatriyas, and the Vaiśyas, the fourth underprivileged class, the Śūdras, and, at the bottom of the society, the lowest so-called untouchable castes. It also discusses the understanding of human differences that lies at the center of the system and the possible economic and political motivations of the Brahmin authors of the texts.

The literature of social class analysis is enormous: wealth differences of the population by percentiles, interlocking directories, membership in elite organizations, and educational institutions attended. The list of possible social class indicators is limited only by the researcher's ingenuity. However, teaching about social class is another story. Discussions with my teacher colleagues and visits to their classrooms reveal that our students are relatively unimpressed (as compared, say, to their enthusiasm for the National Football League) by these mountains of facts. This apathy of our students, themselves members of the lower percentiles, is only partly explained by our American belief in the inevitability of upward mobility of the social classes. Somehow, our students don't connect these impersonal printed sources with their own daily lives.

The literature of social class analysis is enormous: wealth differences of the population by percentiles, interlocking directories, membership in elite organizations, and educational institutions attended. The list of possible social class indicators is limited only by the researcher's ingenuity. However, teaching about social class is another story. Discussions with my teacher colleagues and visits to their classrooms reveal that our students are relatively unimpressed (as compared, say, to their enthusiasm for the National Football League) by these mountains of facts. This apathy of our students, themselves members of the lower percentiles, is only partly explained by our American belief in the inevitability of upward mobility of the social classes. Somehow, our students don't connect these impersonal printed sources with their own daily lives.

The current globalization context brings new questions to class analysis. After a brief review of the theoretical stance and the operationalization possibilities offered by today's sociology of social classes and stratification, this article presents a comparative analysis in which
a selected set of social recomposition indicators is applied to the European Union as a whole and to each one of its countries. One of the main themes discussed throughout the article is the relative importance of national and global parameters in the structuration of class relations.

New forms of social stratification are emerging. Much of our thinking about stratification -- from Marx, Weber, & others -- must be recast to capture these new developments. Social class was the key theme of past stratification work; yet class is an increasingly outmoded concept. This paper first outlines some general propositions about the sources of class stratification & its decline. The decline of hierarchy, & its spread across situses, is emphasized. The general propositions are applied to political parties & ideological cleavages, the economy, the family, & social mobility. These developments appear most clearly in North America & Western Europe, but our propositions also help interpret some of the tensions & factors driving change in Eastern Europe, the (former) Soviet Union, & other societies. Adapted from the source document

What someone means by accepting this or that class label comes out more clearly against a full account of what classes he sees & how he believes them to be related. Though the collection & analysis of sample class maps have now gone some way In America, Australia, & Britain, so that the commoner models have been isolated & their special appropriateness to those in particular reaches or strata noted, it is too early yet to expect answers to the main questions: how & when do people build their class pictures; just what work are they given to do; how rigid are they, & what sort of experiences change them; how internally inconsistent & lackadaisical are they? IPSA.

The ways in which SC & SS rankings affect att's to housing, neighbors, & soc contacts with strangers are discussed in an attempt to demonstrate the importance of the existence of the status factor for physical planning in theory & practice. Examples are presented which show the functioning of distinctions & divisions in both old & new & in planned & unplanned settlements. It is suggested that 'equality cannot be created artificially, prestige & rank are pervasive elements in modern soc life, & certain mixes of people are challenging & productive while others are not.' M. Duke.