Class Boundaries in Europe

Cédric Hugrée is Research Fellow at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) within the Centre de recherche en sociologie et sciences politiques de Paris (CRESPPA, Paris 8/CNRS). His work focuses on higher education inequalities in France and class inequalities in Europe. His recently published title is Social Class in Europe (2020). Étienne Penissat is Research Fellow at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) currently associated with the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and the École Normale Supérieure. His research focuses on social class, social categorisations, and workers’ collective action in France and Europe. His recently published title is Social Class in Europe (2020). Alexis Spire is Research Director at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), currently associated with the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. His research focuses on the transformation of the state, on consent to taxation and on inequalities in France and in Europe. His recently published title is Social Class in Europe (2020). Johs. Hjellbrekke is Professor of Sociology at the University of Bergen. His recent work focuses on social classes, elites, social mobility, research ethics, and geometric data analysis. His publications include Multiple Correspondence Analysis for the Social Sciences (2018).

Introduction: Thinking about class boundaries in Europe

PART I: Social space and class polarisation

1 Stability, transformation, and escalation: Norwegian classes and class boundaries 2008–2020

2 Polarisation: Trends in class boundaries in Hungary

3 Social classes and their boundaries during Poland’s "Golden Age"

PART II: Questioning the cultural reproduction of class boundaries

4 The cultivation of the synthetic gentleman: Exploring horizontal boundaries within the British elite

5 Exploring class differences within occupational categories: The case of professionals in Athens, 1991–2011

6 Class formation and social reproduction strategies in the Portuguese construction industry: Elements for a relational sociological analysis

PART III: Homology between class boundaries and political orientations

7 Class, confidence, and political conflicts in Denmark: Exploring social cleavages and political boundaries in a Nordic welfare society

8 The politicised class structure of German society (2009–2017)

PART IV: Blind spots in the Bourdieusian approach

9 France: The dynamics of internal changes within a persistent class structure

10 Class boundaries in Spain: Intergenerational and regional changes in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis

11 Inequality in the hidden abode of production: Class and working conditions in Sweden, 1995–2015

12 On the borders of class analysis: Questioning the demarcation of economic activity

PART V: Beyond nations? Social class and globalisation

13 Is happiness at work a class privilege? Subjective relationships to work and class boundaries in Europe

14 Elaborating class analysis on the European scale: The importance of British "non-domiciled" individuals