Sosial sinif cəmiyyətlər və mədəniyyətlər daxilində fərdlər və ya qruplar arasındakı iyerarxik fərqə (və ya təbəqələşməyə) aiddir. Ümumiyyətlə fərdlər sinifdəki iqtisadi mövqelərinə və stratifikasiya sistemindəki oxşar siyasi və iqtisadi maraqlarına görə qruplaşdırılırlar.
Cəmiyyətlərin əksəriyyəti, xüsusən də milli dövlətlər sosial təsnifat xüsusiyyəti göstərir. Ancaq sinif universal bir fenomen deyildir. Bir çox ovçu-yığıcı cəmiyyətlərdə sosial sinif yoxdur, əksər hallarda daimi rəhbərləri olmur və icma üzvlərinin iyerarxik güc strukturlarına bölünməsindən çəkinirlər.
Beckert, Sven, and Julia B. Rosenbaum, eds. The American Bourgeoisie: Distinction and Identity in the Nineteenth Century (Palgrave Macmillan; 2011) 284 pages; Scholarly studies on the habits, manners, networks, institutions, and public roles of the American middle class with a focus on cities in the North.
Blau, Peter & Duncan Otis D.; The American Occupational Structure (1967) classic study of structure and mobility
Brady, David "Rethinking the Sociological Measurement of Poverty" Social Forces Vol. 81 No.3, (March 2003), pp. 715–51 (abstract onlineArxivləşdirilib 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine in Project Muse).
Broom, Leonard & Jones, F. Lancaster; Opportunity and Attainment in Australia (1977)
Cohen, Lizabeth; Consumer's Republic, (Knopf, 2003) (ISBN0-375-40750-2). (Historical analysis of the working out of class in the United States).
Connell, R.W and Irving, T.H., 1992. Class Structure in Australian History: Poverty and Progress. Longman Cheshire.
Giddens, Anthony; The Class Structure of the Advanced Societies, (London: Hutchinson, 1981).
Giddens, Anthony & Mackenzie, Gavin (Eds.), Social Class and the Division of Labour. Essays in Honour of Ilya Neustadt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
Goldthorpe, John H. & Erikson Robert; The Constant Flux: A Study of Class Mobility in Industrial Society (1992)
Grusky, David B. ed.; Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective (2001) scholarly articles
Hazelrigg, Lawrence E. & Lopreato, Joseph; Class, Conflict, and Mobility: Theories and Studies of Class Structure (1972).
Hymowitz, Kay; Marriage and Caste in America: Separate and Unequal Families in a Post-Marital Age (2006) ISBN1-56663-709-0
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Jens Hoff, "The Concept of Class and Public Employees". Acta Sociologica, vol. 28, no. 3, July 1985, pp. 207–26.
Mahalingam, Ramaswami; "Essentialism, Culture, and Power: Representations of Social Class" Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 59, (2003), pp. 733+ on India
Mahony, Pat & Zmroczek, Christine; Class Matters: 'Working-Class' Women's Perspectives on Social Class (Taylor & Francis, 1997)
Manza, Jeff & Brooks, Clem; Social Cleavages and Political Change: Voter Alignments and U.S. Party Coalitions (Oxford University Press, 1999).
Manza, Jeff; "Political Sociological Models of the U.S. New Deal" Annual Review of Sociology, (2000) pp. 297+
Marmot, Michael; The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity (2004)
Marx, Karl & Engels, Frederick; The Communist Manifesto, (1848). (The key statement of class conflict as the driver of historical change).
Merriman, John M.; Consciousness and Class Experience in Nineteenth-Century Europe (Holmes & Meier Publishers, 1979)
Ostrander, Susan A.; Women of the Upper Class (Temple University Press, 1984).
Owensby, Brian P.; Intimate Ironies: Modernity and the Making of Middle-Class Lives in Brazil (Stanford University, 1999).
Pakulski, Jan & Waters, Malcolm; The Death of Class (Sage, 1996). (rejection of the relevance of class for modern societies)
Payne, Geoff; The Social Mobility of Women: Beyond Male Mobility Models (1990)
Savage, Mike; Class Analysis and Social Transformation (London: Open University Press, 2000).
Stahl, Garth; "Identity, Neoliberalism and Aspiration: Educating White Working-Class Boys" (London, Routledge, 2015).
Sennett, Richard & Cobb, Jonathan; The Hidden Injuries of Class, (Vintage, 1972) (classic study of the subjective experience of class).
Siegelbaum, Lewis H. & Suny, Ronald; eds.; Making Workers Soviet: Power, Class, and Identity. (Cornell University Press, 1994). Russia 1870–1940
Wlkowitz, Daniel J.; Working with Class: Social Workers and the Politics of Middle-Class Identity (University of North Carolina Press, 1999).
Weber, Max. "Class, Status and Party", in e.g. Gerth, Hans and C. Wright Mills, From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, (Oxford University Press, 1958). (Weber's key statement of the multiple nature of stratification).