Abstract
The concept of social class is one of the pillars of sociological arguments of many flavors. In this article, we focus on this classical heuristical tool and implement an empirical oriented analysis to test its validity. Our effort is focused on an empirical assessment of the class typology known as EGP (Erikson-Goldthorpe-Portocarero). Through the use of methodological tools coherent with the pattern of avaiable data, we provide results about the association of the typology with relevant aspects of the Brazilian labor market. The main result of this analysis is that there are serious limitations to the use of the evaluated typology in the Brazilian context. We argue that researchers interested in making use of this concept should be very careful and think thoroughly about how the Brazilian context imposes serious limits to the concept of social class operationalized via the EGP scheme.
Keywords:
labor market; class analysis; occupational typologies; social class; EGP