Abstract

Weber's methodology exerts a clear and widely acknowledged influence on contemporary sociological research. His theory of social action is still being used and updated for the explanation of social phenomena. Raymond Boudon and James Coleman are regarded as two examples of analytical sociology stemming from this heritage. This paper picks social stratification as an example among typical weberian research topics. His analytical apparatus is compared with three recent paradigms: empirical construction of "classes maps", in the neo-marxist and neo-weberian variants; "cultural class analysis", with a reference to Pierre Bourdieu; the "institutional theory of classes" proposed by Gosta Esping-Andersen. Generally speaking, agreement is found with Olin Wright's statement about the end of big wars of paradigms in favour of hybridations proper to explore contemporary complex structural inequalities. Hybridations seem to be eased by a neo-weberian perspective.