affect income distribution and social stratification and that is crucial when we know that the state in the W.I.N.s continues to be cominated by the male capitalist upper calss. Futhermore, equality of opportunity and social mobility continues to be restricted in the W.I.N.s while the limitations of the social-democratic welfare state to deal with these issues have been shownto be problematical in the present era of globalization. While social-economic inequality has been measured in a myriad of ways the resultant reserch has indicated its relation to many of industrial society's ills.