does not create social inequality, it

LESSON 1 supports conditions that do.

SOCIAL INEQUALITY
THE SOCIOLOGY OF SOCIAL
INEQUALITY
SOCIAL INEQUALITY
By Ashley Crossman | April 17, 2018
● Social inequality is the condition of
● Social inequality results from a society
unequal access to the benefits and rights
organized by hierarchies of class, race, and
of society. In a purely equal society, every
gender that broke access to resources and
citizen is equally able to contribute to the
rights in ways that make their distribution
overall well being of that society, and they
unequal. It can manifest in a variety of
are equally able to benefit from their
ways, like income and wealth inequality,
membership within that society.
unequal access to education and cultural
● Social inequality is usually the result of
resources, and differential treatment by the
inter-social treatment (biases and
police and judicial system, among others.
prejudices) and unjust government
Social inequality goes hand in hand with
regulations. Social inequality can be further
social stratification.
broken down into two types: direct and
● Social inequality is characterized by the
indirect.
existence of unequal opportunities and
rewards for different social positions or
TYPES OF SOCIAL INEQUALITY
statuses within a group or society. It
Direct Social Inequality
contains structured and recurrent patterns
● Occurs when unfair treatment of a group
of unequal distributions of goods, wealth,
(or groups) is deliberate and can be
opportunities, rewards, and punishments.
present in both community or government
Racism, for example, is understood to be a
capacities. Direct inequality is a purposeful
phenomenon whereby access to rights
act that takes away resources,
and resources is unfairly distributed across
opportunities and/or rights from some and
racial lines.
not others. Examples include:
● There are two main ways to measure
Governmental: Legislation mandating the
social inequality: inequality of conditions,
segregation of schools and other public
and inequality of opportunities.
places along racial lines and Inter-Social:
Business owners refusing to serve clients
INEQUALITY OF CONDITIONS
based on sexual orientation.
● Refers to the unequal distribution of
income, wealth, and material goods.
Indirect Social Inequality
Housing, for example, is an inequality of
● occurs when unfair treatment of a group
conditions with the homeless and those
(or groups) is not the explicit purpose of a
living in housing projects sitting at the
policy or action, but still results in social
bottom of the hierarchy while those living
inequality. Examples include:
in multi-million dollar mansions sit at the
top. Another example is that they are
Governmental
invested in the level of whole
● Legislation that eliminates or limits early
communities, where some are poor,
and mail-in voting and/or requires photo
unstable, and plagued by violence, while
ID. The stated purpose of these laws is to
others by business and government so that
mitigate voter fraud but the consequence
they thrive and provide safe, secure, and
is that people who often can’t vote in-
happy conditions for their inhabitants.
person only on election day (students, the
elderly, or those who can’t otherwise afford
to leave work or transport themselves to
INEQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITIES
polling stations) are disadvantaged. ● Refers to the unequal distribution of life
chances across individuals. This is
Inter-social reflected in measures such as level of
● Purchasing clothing that was made in education, health status, and treatment by
sweatshops. Sweat-shop laborers are the criminal justice system. For example,
overworked, underpaid, and often work in studies have shown that college and
unsafe working conditions, hindering their university professors are more likely to
ability to contribute to and benefit from ignore emails from women and people of
society. So while buying clothing itself color than they are to ignore those from
 white men, which privileges the
educational outcomes of white men by
channeling a biased amount of mentoring
and educational resources to them.
DISCRIMINATION
● At individual, community, and institutional
levels is a major part of the process of
reproducing social inequalities of race,
class, gender, and sexuality. For example,
women are systematically paid less than
men for doing the same work, and
sociologists have conclusively
demonstrated that racism is built into the
very foundation of our society, and is
present in all of our social institutions.
2 MAIN THEORIES OF SOCIAL
INEQUALITY
FUNCTIONALIST THEORISTS
● Believe that inequality is inevitable and
desirable and plays an important function
in society. Important positions in society
require more training and thus should
receive more rewards. Social inequality
and social stratification, according to this
view, lead to a meritocracy based on
ability.
CONFLICT THEORISTS
● On the other hand, view inequality as
resulting from groups with power
dominating less powerful groups. They
believe that social inequality prevents and
hinders societal progress as those in
power repress the powerless people in
order to maintain the status quo. In today's
world, this work of domination is
achieved primarily through the power of
ideology--our thoughts, values, beliefs,
worldviews, norms, and expectations--
through a process known as cultural
hegemony.
SOCIAL INEQUALITY EXAMPLES
● Social inequality is “the condition where
people have unequal access to valued
resources, services and positions in
society” (Kerbo, 2003, ).
● It is broader than just wealth inequality
because it also includes factors like
discrimination and access to government
support.
● When social inequality occurs, there is an
uneven distribution of resources
between individuals or groups, and this
happens in almost all societies. These
resources and rights go from education, to
power, status and so on.
● Social inequality is the result of social
hierarchy or stratification, with class,
gender, race, ethnicity, or sexuality being
part of the experience of social inequality.
● When social inequality occurs, there is an
unequal distribution of and unequal access
to material and non-material goods:
● Material goods could be income, but also
things like housing.
● Non-material social goods refer to
intangible things such as access to social
networks or social status.
● In this sense, social inequality is a multi-
faceted approach to uneven differences in
access to resources for different social
positions or statuses within a group or
society.
● Thus, dimensions like gender, sexuality,
ethnicity or class all impact on being able
to access, or not, social goods and
resources as well as opportunities.
● Social inequality is important because it
has an impact on people’s life chances, in
their living conditions, their work
opportunities and the overall life outcomes
of both individuals and groups (Suter,
2014).
WEALTH INEQUALITY
● Wealth plays a major role in perpetuating
social inequality. People with higher net
worth have greater access to resources,
can out-bid poorer people for access to
limited resources, and can buy access to
people in power.
INCOME INEQUALITY
● Income inequality functions in a similar
way to wealth inequality, but refers to
unequal distribution of money in the
workforce. For example, the wage
differential between CEOs and workers has
spiked in recent decades, which has
exacerbated social inequalities.
 ACCESS TO BASIC EDUCATION
● Access to basic education is unequal when
wealthier neighborhoods have better
primary schools, or when lack of public
transit to schooling acts as a substantial
barrier for poorer people.
ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION
● Unequal access to education can be a
result of factors such as geographical
barriers and financial barriers. Without
higher education, it is harder to achieve
social mobility.
AGE INEQUALITY
● Also known as ageism, this refers to
discrimination against people based on
their age. For example, it occurs in relation
to access to employment for those over
the age of 50.
DEPRIVED NEIGHBORHOODS
● Deprived neighborhoods are an example
of how it is not only individuals who suffer
inequality. Sometimes, whole areas can be
affected by the unequal distribution of
rights and resources. This happens, for
example, when some neighborhoods have
restricted access to hospitals and
transport.
HOUSING INEQUALITY
● Having access to a house, or living in
sufficient accommodation, is both a cause
and a consequence of social inequality.
Living in a social housing, for example, is
related to being at the bottom of the social
hierarchy.
RACIAL INEQUALITY
● Inequality based on race can be a result of
systemic and intergenerational racism, a
discriminatory attitude by which access to
rights has not been distributed equally
across people of different races, and which
has been passed down through
generations of deprivation
GENDER INEQUALITY
● Inequality based on gender is called
sexism, a discriminatory attitude by which
women are more likely to be worse off in
the equality scales. For example, they tend
to earn less than men for the same jobs.
● There are three main areas in which
gender inequality can be found: health,
education, and the workplace.
● For example, in relation to health, although
women live longer than men, they have
more ill health throughout their lives.
● In terms of education, there is still
segregation in certain subjects, for
example, computing or engineering are
still dominated by men. Finally, in the
workplace, we find that this is called the
glass ceiling, which stops women from
progressing in their careers.
HEALTH ACCESS INEQUALITY
● Unequal access to healthcare is most
starkly shown by the rural-urban divide
(where rural people often need to travel to
cities to receive care) and the class divide,
where working-class people often find
funding to be a barrier to access to quality
care (see more social determinants of
health here).
CASTE SYSTEMS
● Traditional caste societies deny access to
jobs based on your ascribed status at birth.
Furthermore, they may deny people from
marrying one another across castes.
GEOGRAPHICAL INEQUALITY
● Geographical inequality can be within a
nation (e.g. the rural-urban divide) as well
as globally (e.g. developing vs developed
nations).
CITIZENSHIP STATUS
● People may face limited protections based
upon their citizenship. While it’s generally
accepted that a tourist in a country
shouldn’t access some public services
covered by taxation, when non-citizens are
denied human rights like access to a
lawyer, we might start to consider
citizenship status as a dimension of
inequality in a society.
CHILD POVERTY
● Child poverty is a key driver of social
inequality. People born into poverty can
experience malnutrition, poorer
educational results, and lower overall
lifetime earnings on average.
POWER & STATUS INEQUALITY
● Access to powerful people is unequally
distributed. People who are privileged on
the social hierarchy have higher social
status and consequently have more
access to people in powerful political and
corporate positions. There is also unequal
 power distribution between men and
women, as demonstrated by the glass
ceiling phenomenon.
LGBT DISCRIMINATION
● Historically, LGBT people have faced
discrimination that has affected their ability
to do many things heterosexual people
can access, including starting and raising a
family, and accessing healthcare as
spouses.
INTERGENERATIONAL INEQUALITY
● This occurs when one generation in society
has had greater access to resources than
others at similar points in their lives. For
example, in the UK and Australia, baby
boomers had free higher education, which
was denied to future generations who had
to pay for it. This affected future
generations’ prospects in a way that did
not affect baby bookers.
INCARCERATION RATES
● Taking a look at incarceration rates versus
rates in which different racial groups
commit crimes can demonstrate how
people of color are more likely to be
imprisoned if they are caught committing a
crime.
SERVICE INEQUALITY
● Unequal access to services can be seen
across many vectors of society, including
the rural-urban divide and rich-poor divide.
DISCRIMINATORY LAWS
● Laws that entrenched discrimination, such
as segregation laws, can be a source of
social inequality.
INDIGENOUS INEQUALITY
● First nations groups have long suffered
from unequal access to resources in
society. One demonstration of this is the
lack of clean drinking water in many first
nations communities in Canada.
SOCIAL INEQUALITY & ETHNICITY
● Racism is the expression of social
inequality based on a person’s, or a group,
race or ethnicity.
● It has been shown that people of ethnic
minority backgrounds experience higher
rates of unemployment, they are more
likely to be prosecuted by the criminal
justice system, and also be victims of
crime, live in inadequate housing, have bad
mental and physical health or be excluded
from education. These are examples of
institutional racism.
SOCIAL INEQUALITY & HEALTH
● For example, income determines being
able to afford things like gym membership
or fresh fruit, which keeps people
healthier..
● Occupation also has a role in health
inequality and life expectancy, for
example, teachers live longer than
plumbers.
● Finally, in countries in which there is no
universal health coverage those with
higher incomes will have greater access to
services, from health promotion, to
prevention or treatment.
SOCIAL INEQUALITY & AGE
● Ageism refers to stereotypes (how we
think), prejudice (how we feel) and
discrimination (how we act) towards others
or oneself based on age.
● While ageism can be directed towards
younger or older people, in terms of
inequality, it is in older groups that the
focus will be put on. People who are older
may experience discrimination in the
workplace, for example, in terms of
accessing jobs which can lead to higher
rates of unemployment.
● Furthermore, older people with small
pensions have less spending power and
thus less access to certain resources, for
example, paying for leisure and cultural
activities, thus putting them at a
disadvantage.
SOCIAL INEQUALITY & INCOME OR
WEALTH
● While social inequality is not solely based
on income or wealth, money, whether from
the job one does or from access to family
wealth, plays a role in accessing resources.
● This greater access to resources means
that some people have a greater
advantage than others, for example, in
relation to good health and education. As
has been explained, this difference in
access to resources is at the heart of social
inequality and it impacts on people’s life
changes, hence its importance.
UN - INEQUALITY - BRIDGING THE
DIVIDE
● Today, wherever people live, they don’t
have to look far to confront inequalities.
 Inequality in its various forms is an issue
that will define our time. Confronting
inequalities has moved to the forefront of
many global policy debates as a
consensus has emerged that all should
enjoy equal access to opportunity. ‘Leave
no one behind’ serves as the rallying cry of
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development.
● Overall, since the 1990s total global
inequality (inequality across all individuals
in the world) declined for the first time
since the 1820s. Reinforcing this trend, we
have mostly seen income inequality
between countries decline. Yet income
inequality within countries has risen, this
is the form of inequality people feel on a
daily basis.
● Inequalities are not only driven and
measured by income, but are determined
by other factors - gender, age, origin,
ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation,
class, and religion. These factors
determine inequalities of opportunity
which continue to persist, within and
between countries. In some parts of the
world, these divides are becoming more
pronounced. Meanwhile, gaps in newer
areas, such as access to online and
mobile technologies, are emerging. The
result is a complex mix of internal and
external challenges that will continue to
grow over the next twenty-five years.
● Groups such as indigenous peoples,
migrants and refugees, and ethnic and
other minorities continue to suffer from
discrimination, marginalization, and lack
of legal rights. This is pervasive across
developing and developed countries alike
and is not tied to income. For example,
social protection has been significantly
extended globally, yet persons with
disabilities are up to five times more likely
than average to incur catastrophic health
expenditures. Additionally, a UNDESA
report found that at the current rate of
progress observed from the 1990s to the
2010s, it will take more than four decades
to close the stunting gap between ethnic
groups.
MORE THAN INCOME
● The measurements and impacts of
inequality go far beyond income and
purchasing power. Inequalities of
opportunity affect a person’s life
expectancy and access to basic services
such as healthcare, education, water, and
sanitation. They can curtail a person’s
human rights, through discrimination,
abuse and lack of access to justice. In 2018,
we saw the world’s 12th consecutive year
of decline in global freedom, with 71
countries suffering net declines in political
and civil liberties.
● High levels of inequality of opportunity
discourage skills accumulation, choke
economic and social mobility, and human
development and, consequently, depress
economic growth. It also entrenches
uncertainty, vulnerability and insecurity,
undermines trust in institutions and
government, increases social discord and
tensions and triggers violence and
conflicts. There is growing evidence that
high levels of income and wealth
inequality are propelling the rise of
nativism and extreme forms of
nationalism.
● In addition, the evolution of issues such as
climate change, technology, and
urbanization raise urgent policy
challenges. For example, climate change is
exacerbating environmental degradation,
increasing the frequency and intensity of
extreme weather events, and by no means
impacting people uniformly. If climate
change continues unaddressed it will
increase inequality within countries and
may even reverse current progress in
reducing inequality between countries.
● Meanwhile, technology can be a great
equalizer – by enhancing connectivity,
financial inclusion, access to trade and
public services, for instance – but those yet
to be connected may experience further
marginalization as a result, especially as
progress is slowing, even reversing, among
some constituencies.
● With a global trend toward urbanization,
cities are becoming a growing site for
inequalities. They find high levels of wealth
and modern infrastructure coexist with
pockets of severe deprivation, often side
by side. This makes gaping and increasing
levels of inequality all the more glaring
within cities.
TACKLING INEQUALITIES
● There is a clear need to pursue inclusive,
equitable, and sustainable growth,
ensuring a balance among economic,
social, and environmental dimensions of
sustainable development. However,
inequality takes many forms and varies
significantly across countries. While Goal
10 of the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDG 10) and its targets provide a
 framework, the fight against inequality
must be rooted in country-contexts,
economic imperatives, and political
realities. There is no scope for a one-size
fits all approach, and national policies and
institutions matter.
● Social reforms are things such as
organized resistance, protest groups, and
social movements. Sociologists study how
these social reforms help shape or change
social inequality that exists in a society, as
well as their origins, impact, and long-term
effects. Today, social media plays a large
role in social reform campaigns and was
harnessed in 2014 by British actor Emma
Watson, on behalf of the UN, to launch a
campaign for gender equality called
#HeForShe.