This volume introduces students to the main forms of social division and difference that characterise contemporary societies. Drawing on a wide range of examples from the UK and US, the authors consider a series of challenging questions relating to the primary divisions of class, gender, 'race' and ethnicity. Unusually, they also address differences relating to place, particularly inequalities in housing and education, reviewing them in the innovative context of current debates about citizenship and social justice. Although each chapter concentrates on specific social categories or sites of difference, the text as a whole is connected by its focus on the inter-relationship between differences and divisions in the complex construction of social identities.Throughout the book, students are guided through the major theoretical approaches to social stratification and given the opportunity to use and critically assess the results of relevant social surveys and statistics.