Rising social, political and economic inequality has seen the restoration of the concept of 'class' to a prominent place in contemporary anthropological debates. This book explores the concept of class and its importance for understanding the key sources of that inequality and of people's attempts to deal with it. 'Class remains a vital concept for critical social science. This volume shows that anthropologists, traditionally sceptical, have in fact much to contribute both theoretically and ethnographically.' Chris Hann, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology