Social inequalities are ancient, but the concept of class evolved only in the nineteenth century with the increasing division of labor accompanying industrialization. Karl Marx (1818–1883) sometimes wrote as if there were just two distinct, inherently antagonistic classes—the bourgeoisie owning the means of production, and the proletariat working for them. Class structures actually were more complex than that even in prerevolutionary Europe, and are all the more so in a global technological civilization. Class is thus a special form of inequality tied to the development of modern science and technology; it is of ethical significance because the costs and benefits of innovation tend to be distributed along class lines.

Sociology of Class

Sociologists studying class tend to categorize households by the male breadwinner's occupation. John H. Goldthorpe (1987) uses eleven categories ranging from professionals, administrators, and corporate managers at the top, to small proprietors, farmers, and personal service workers...