社會階層化與社會流動的研究，長久以來一直都是社會學的研究重心之一。我們比較熟知的，恐怕也只是新聞報導常說的貧富差距或公平、正義原則等面向，
對於其他社會面向（不論是機制或結構）的時常有意無意的被忽略或淡化，這些面向包括：家庭背景、教育、勞動市場、性別、職業、收入、種族、宗教、居住
地區、財富、休閒型態等等，不勝枚舉。
在課程開始前面幾週，會先跟各位同學介紹社會階層的一些階層化理論概念與流動面向。先有一個概念：階層化是一個創造、維持、改變既有社會結構的過程，因此它是動態的、易變的，就像水流一樣會隨著渠道的方向（社會外部環境）而改變。在後續的課程中，將針對家庭背景、教育、勞動市場與性別、職業與收入，以及健康等五個面向更近一步的探討。
透過這門課程，希望各位同學能夠更加了解社會不同面向的差異、不均、不公平乃至於階層化的情況。在面對這些情況，我們可以理解背後更深層因素的影響與機制，同時配合同學們的實地觀察與研究報告，藉此期待同學們能在這堂課之間激盪更多不同、多樣的想法。

The study of social stratification and social mobility has long been one of the focuses of sociology. What we are more familiar with is probably just the gap between rich and poor or the principles of fairness and justice that are often mentioned in news reports.
Other social aspects (whether mechanisms or structures) are often ignored or downplayed intentionally or unintentionally. These aspects include: family background, education, labor market, gender, occupation, income, race, religion, residence
Region, wealth, leisure type, etc., the list goes on.
In the first few weeks of the course, students will be introduced to some theoretical concepts of stratification and mobility aspects of social class. First, there is a concept: stratification is a process of creating, maintaining, and changing existing social structures. Therefore, it is dynamic and changeable, just like water flow, which changes with the direction of the channel (social external environment). In subsequent courses, five aspects including family background, education, labor market and gender, occupation and income, and health will be further discussed.
Through this course, I hope that students can better understand the differences, disparities, unfairness and even stratification in different aspects of society. In the face of these situations, we can understand the influence and mechanism of the deeper factors behind it, and at the same time cooperate with students' on-the-spot observations and research reports, hoping that students can stir up more different and diverse ideas in this class.

許嘉猷，1992，《社會階層化與社會流動》，台北：三民。
謝雨生、傅仰止，2012，《台灣的社會變遷 1985~2005：社會階層與勞動市場》，中央研究院社會所。
王宏仁、李廣均，2008，《跨戒：流動與堅持的台灣社會》，群學。

Xu Jiayou, 1992, "Social Stratification and Social Mobility", Taipei: Sanmin.
Xie Yusheng and Fu Yangzhi, 2012, "Social Changes in Taiwan 1985~2005: Social Class and Labor Market", Institute of Social Sciences, Academia Sinica.
Wang Hongren and Li Guangjun, 2008, "Crossing the Rules: Flow and Persistence in Taiwanese Society", Qunxue.