Class and Gender Inequalities in a Comparative Perspective

Most western societies have a self-imposed goal of creating equal opportunities for everyone - through legislation, re-distribution and specific policies which support vulnerable groups. Nevertheless, even in the highly developed democracies, we still find large differences between the genders and social classes in terms of educational attainment, labour market chance, income and wealth, physical and mental health, and social participation. In this seminar, we approach these inequalities both theoretically and empirically. By drawing on theories at the micro and the macro level, we learn to better understand how these inequalities came about, continue to exist, or can be mitigated. By examining empirical studies which investigate these linkages for a number of different outcomes (from education to health), we gain insights into the inequality-generating mechanisms which are at work at different levels.