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From occupational to existential class: How to analyze class structure in hybrid societies (The case of Serbia)
Author(s) -
Cvetičanin Predrag,
TomićKoludrović Inga,
Petrić Mirko,
Zdravković Željka,
Leguina Adrian
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the british journal of sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.826
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1468-4446
pISSN - 0007-1315
DOI - 10.1111/1468-4446.12858
Subject(s) - operationalization , social class , sociology , closure (psychology) , class analysis , class (philosophy) , social capital , existentialism , politics , social stratification , positive economics , inequality , social inequality , habitus , social science , epistemology , cultural capital , political science , economics , law , mathematical analysis , philosophy , mathematics
In this article, we propose a model to analyze the class structure of hybrid post‐socialist societies in South‐East Europe (SEE), using the case of Serbia. We argue that, in such hybrid societies, social inequalities are generated by several mechanisms of similar strength: exploitative market mechanisms (based on economic capital) and different types of social closure mechanisms (based on political and social capital). Their influences are intertwined and cannot be analytically isolated or reduced to a common foundation. Therefore, occupational class analysis in these societies can have only limited explanatory power. In an attempt to overcome these challenges, we were forced to modify the instruments of several established approaches to class analysis. These modifications included (1) a reconceptualization of Bourdieusian notions of political, social, and cultural capital, (2) a different operationalization of social space, (3) identification of specific mechanisms of generating social inequalities, (4) paying attention to both practical and discursive classifications of lifestyles in the establishment of symbolic boundaries, and (5) relying on differential association analysis for identifying class boundaries. Our analysis's final result is a model that enables studying general social inequality, that is, generalized social advantage/disadvantage, in SEE post‐socialist societies.