Thinking out stratification: the concept of subalternity

The purpose of this article is to show that the concept of subalternity is a good starting point for the study of stratification. This concept had already been used by Gramsci (1992, 1996), Guha (1982), Spivak (1988), and Darity (2020), while I give it a meaning that is both broader and more precise than theirs. For me, subalterns are those who endure structural violence. By definition, this form of violence is not interpersonal in nature, but it is culturally and institutionally embedded. Seen in this way, the concept of subalternity offers four great advantages. First, it enables to delineate the scope of the analysis of stratification. Second, it makes it possible to grasp the state of people deprived of their agency, whatever their situation: poverty, exclusion, inferiority, vulnerability, and so on. Third, it allows for the complexity of stratification to be taken into consideration. Actually, the various forms of stratification are, in most cases, entangled and cannot easily be detached from one another. Finally, since it subsumes the different approaches on the matter, it can serve as a basis for discussion between scholars from various fields and theoretical backgrounds. The perspective of the paper is both conceptual and empirical. Three sets of examples (on the position of women, on the issue of education, and on the position of ethnic minorities) are provided to illustrate its theoretical dimension.