Rewealthization in twenty-first century Western countries: the defining trend of the socioeconomic squeeze of the middle class.

ABSTRACT: The wealth-to-income ratio (WIR) in many Western countries, particularly in Europe and North America, increased by a factor of two in the last three decades. This represents a defining empirical trend: a rewealthization (from the French repatrimonialisation)-or the comeback of (inherited) wealth primacy since the mid-1990s. For the sociology of social stratification, "occupational classes" based on jobs worked must now be understood within a context of wealth-based domination. This paper first illustrates important empirical features of an era of rising WIR. We then outline the theory of rewealthization as a major factor of class transformations in relation to regimes stabilized in the post-WWII industrial area. Compared to the period where wealth became secondary to education and e

SUBMITTER: Chauvel L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7797273 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature