Den kvinnliga klassresan. Konstituerande möjligheter, motivation och hinder

Abstract

The article presents a theoretical and empirical sociological view of the human being and the surrounding structural conditions of social inequality, class and gender. An introduction is given to the sociologist Margaret Archer’s theory of development and social ontology, which builds on the grounds of critical realism. The explanatory strength of this theory is illustrated in relation to the dissertation, The Female Experience of Class Mobility (2003) (Den kvinnliga klassresan), where class and gender are in focus. Application of Archer’s identity concept yields an understanding of the relationship between individual and societal conditions and of how social change occurs over time. In particular the article illuminates the emotions of class and the issues related to class-shame, based on Andrew Sayer’s sociological analysis of class, moral value and recognition. The author argues that class is something real which positions the individual: a condition we become and personify, engage in and act on the basis of, and experience on a subjective emotional level. The study indicates that class structures and their meaning as subjective experiences are part of time- and genderdependent social conditions. The female “class journey” is found to build upon women’s reflexivity, intentionality and power of action.