1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910337719803321

Autore

Neubert Dieter

Titolo

Inequality, Socio-cultural Differentiation and Social Structures in Africa : Beyond Class / / by Dieter Neubert

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2019

ISBN

3-030-17111-6

Edizione

[1st ed. 2019.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (XI, 433 p. 8 illus., 1 illus. in color.)

Collana

Frontiers of Globalization

Disciplina

305

305.5096

Soggetti

Social structure

Equality

Ethnology—Africa

Culture

Social Structure, Social Inequality

African Culture

Sociology of Culture

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction: The Middle Class Debate and Its Limits -- 2. Poverty and Inequality in Development Policy: Concepts of Poverty, Vulnerability and Livelihood -- 3. Class and Capitalism in the Global South: A Perspective on Africa -- 4. Elements of Socio-Cultural Positioning in Africa -- 5. Patterns of Individual Social Positioning: Gender, Age and Disability -- 6. Risks and Aspirations: Strategies for Coping with Uncertainty -- 7. Extended Concepts of Social Positioning -- 8. A New Framework for the Analysis of Social Structures in Sub-Saharan Africa -- 9. Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

This book contends that conventional class concepts are not able to adequately capture social inequality and socio-cultural differentiation in Africa. Earlier empirical findings concerning ethnicity, neo-traditional authorities, patron-client relations, lifestyles, gender, social networks, informal social security, and even the older debate on class in Africa, have provided evidence that class concepts do not apply; yet these



findings have mostly been ignored. For an analysis of the social structures and persisting extreme inequality in African societies – and in other societies of the world – we need to go beyond class, consider the empirical realities and provincialise our conventional theories. This book develops a new framework for the analysis of social structure based on empirical findings and more nuanced approaches, including livelihood analysis and intersectionality, and will be useful for students and scholars in African studies and development studies, sociology, social anthropology, political science and geography.