Family and social inequality

Questions on social stratification, inequality and households are closely connected. Household conditions might create inequality in resources (examples are household characteristics such as the family of origin or divorce of own marriage), and sometimes inequality is measured by a household characteristic (e.g. heterogamy). An unequal distribution of socio-economic resources may also affect the structure of the household (e.g. family size). Both sociological and economic theories are applied to a range of research problems on stratification and households. An overview of research on stratification, inequality and households will be presented and acquired through self-study. Topics that will be covered are among others inequality of educational opportunities, family formation, the occupational career, and work-family balance. For each of these topics, theories to explain the diverse phenomena, accompanying testable hypotheses, research methods, data, and major empirical findings will be discussed.