This book contends that conventional class concepts are not able to adequately capture social inequality and socio-cultural differentiation in Africa. Earlier empirical findings concerning ethnicity, neo-traditional authorities, patron-client relations, lifestyles, gender, social networks, informal social security, and even the older debate on class in Africa, have provided evidence that class concepts do not apply; yet these findings have mostly been ignored.
For an analysis of the social structures and persisting extreme inequality in African societies ¿ and in other societies of the world ¿ we need to go beyond class, consider the empirical realities and provincialise our conventional theories. This book develops a new framework for the analysis of social structure based on empirical findings and more nuanced approaches, including livelihood analysis and intersectionality, and will be useful for students and scholars in African studies and development studies, sociology, social anthropology, political science and geography.

Dieter Neubert is a retired Professor of Sociology of Development at the University of Bayreuth, Germany.

1. Introduction: The Middle Class Debate and Its Limits.- 2. Poverty and Inequality in Development Policy: Concepts of Poverty, Vulnerability and Livelihood.- 3. Class and Capitalism in the Global South: A Perspective on Africa.- 4. Elements of Socio-Cultural Positioning in Africa.- 5. Patterns of Individual Social Positioning: Gender, Age and Disability.- 6. Risks and Aspirations: Strategies for Coping with Uncertainty.- 7. Extended Concepts of Social Positioning.- 8. A New Framework for the Analysis of Social Structures in Sub-Saharan Africa.- 9. Conclusion.