Social Inequality and Sociocultures

Inequality is usually studied with a focus on economic factors, such as income and wealth, and with reference to a brief period of time, basically the period of data collection. This article argues that this approach is misleading and does not allow us to understand inequality, let alone society at large. Inequalities and social hierarchies comprise more than economic factors but also cultural factors, as Pierre Bourdieu has shown. Bourdieu, however, neglected the historical dimension. Classes and habitus types are rooted in long traditions, which have to be studied over centuries, not months or years. Capitalist societies develop hierarchies of social classes, which are shaped by pre-capitalist hierarchies. These earlier hierarchies tend to persist for decades or even centuries after the capitalist transformation. I refer to these earlier hierarchies as sociocultures, since they form not only hierarchies but also cultures, which reproduce from one generation to the next. Edward P. Thompson has demonstrated this with regard to the English working class. In the article, I will introduce the concept of socioculture as it is used in studies of social inequality.