social differentiation is among the important concepts in sociology. the importance of the concept may be understood from its frequent recurrence in the works of the early sociologists including spencer, durkheim, weber and marx, as well as in the works of later sociologists such as parsons, smelser and luhmann. the idea of segregation is mainly discussed as a key concept in the theories of soc...


 “Shooting [or ‘guessing’] characters” (shèzì 射字) was a game, and later communication method, based on phonological analysis of Chinese syllables. Over time, it became used in variety ways, including as teaching tool, cipher, writing aid for the less educated. The actual proposed applications one game show that phonology did not just exist books, but encompassed distinct non-written pract...

Occupational gender segregation--the tendency for women and men to work in different occupations--is an important feature of all societies, and particularly the wealthy industrialized ones. To understand this segregation, and to explain its significance, we need to distinguish between vertical segregation entailing inequality and horizontal segregation representing difference without inequality...