INEQUALITY

TYPES, CAUSES, EFFECTS and

SOLUTIONS
Inequality
 refers to the phenomenon of unequal and/or unjust
distribution of resources and opportunities among members
of a given society.
it encompasses distinct yet overlapping economic, social, and
spatial dimensions.

What is debates about inequality are further complicated by the

disjuncture between the moral ethics of equity and social

Inequality? justice, on the one hand, and the normative idea of

“deservingness,” on the other hands.
In recent years, inequalities became observable within social
groups, in addition to those across social groups. This has
lead to an increasing realization that inequality is systematic
and entrenched in various socioeconomic and political
structures.
 Inequality is a relatively well understood concept; it
illustrates the difference in access to and use of scarce and
What is valued resources among individuals or social groups. This
difference in situation between individuals or groups may be
Inequality? related to the resources they hold (education, income, social
and cultural capital, etc.) or to their position in society
(housing, employment situation, etc.). This is a social
inequality.
 Example
of
Inequality
 Types of Inequality
Income, Economic, Gender, Wealth,
Opportunity, Assets and Physical Environment
 refers to disparities among individuals' incomes and wealth.
And those differences can be great.
Economic is the unequal distribution of income and opportunity
between different groups in society. It is a concern in almost
Inequality all countries around the world and often people are trapped in
poverty with little chance to climb up the social ladder.
  Technological Change
The digital revolution creates enormous wealth for those with
the skills and preparations to take advantage. But it eliminates
what economists call “middle-skill jobs”
Caused
by:  Globalizations
Competition from emerging companies combined with trade
barriers have further reduced prospects for without advanced
skills. That’s had devastating consequences sectors such as
textiles and furniture and leather goods.
  Rise of Superstars
Breakthrough firms such as Apple and Amazon now attract
revenue across the world which produces immense jackpot
for the executives who lead them. And for the American cities

Caused they call home.

by:  Falling Labor

Meanwhile the share of workers represented by labor union
has dropped by half, shrinking their power. The lowest paid
workers have seen the buying power of the minimum wage
drop as the government has not increased it to keep pace with
inflation.
  Seizing Advantage

Caused The shifting power balance has rewarded the wealthiest even
more through policies in government and private institutions.
by: From tax changes that increased their income to college
admissions procedures that opened doors for their children
above others.
 Income
Inequality
 refers to the extent to which income is evenly distributed
within a population. Related concepts are lifetime inequality
(inequality in incomes for an individual over his or her
lifetime).

Income  is how unevenly income is distributed throughout a

population

Inequality is often accompanied by wealth inequality, which is the

uneven distribution of wealth.
different measures, such as the Gini coefficient, can be used
to analyze the level of income inequality in a population.
  Vertical Inequality
Difference between the rich and the poor

Income  Horizontal Inequality

Inequality Where people of similar background, status,
qualifications, etc. have differences in incomes
 The Labour Market:
Differences in education, qualifications, skills, abilities and
experience mean that the supply of labour differs in relation to
the demand

Caused The Tax System:

Impact of taxes that may be regressive in their effect
by: Ability of some to be able to exploit the system to pay less tax

Education:
Level of education and access to education influences the
level of earnings
Opportunity
Inequality
 lies at the very heart of discussions about inequality and
social welfare. It occurs when people living in the same
society do not have access to the same opportunities.

pertains to an unfair distribution of the opportunity to achieve

Opportunity good outcomes.

Inequality means that what matters most for your living conditions is
the good or bad luck of your place of birth

impact on income of circumstances over which individuals

have no control, such as family socioeconomic status, gender,
or ethnic background
 High levels of inequality of opportunity mean that people’s
circumstances at birth – their gender, the place where they
were born, their ethnicity or their parental background –
Opportunity determine to a significant degree the educational
qualifications they obtain, the type of job they get and,
Inequality ultimately, their level of earnings. Inequality of opportunity is
thus widely regarded as the unfair part of inequality.
 The level of opportunity may influence the level of inequality

 Access
Opportunity  How easy is it for individuals to access education, work,
housing, etc?
Inequality  How easy is it for countries to access markets?

 Discrimination – on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, etc.

 Parental background
 is the key circumstance influencing inequality of opportunity

Caused Gender and place of birth

by:
 Income
with high levels of inequality of opportunity, income
inequality is also high.
 Physical
Environment
Inequality
 are now a terminology that is increasingly used by civil
society and politicians. Environmental inequalities are built
on the basis of several processes that can act alone or in
combination. They “do not result from a natural determinism
that would affect a human population deemed
homogeneous,’’ nor from a social determinism.
Physical
Environment it intersect three dimensions: social, territorial and, of course,
Inequality environmental. More concretely, environmental inequalities
are the expression of an environmental burden that would be
borne primarily by disadvantaged and/or minority
populations or by territories suffering from a certain poverty
and exclusion of these inhabitants. However, be careful:
being subjected to a risk or pollution does not systematically
lead to environmental inequality.
  Physical environment can
include natural resources,
raw materials and climate
Physical
Environment  Not only availability of
natural resources but
Inequality accessibility and ease with
which they can be
exploited
It is not enough to have natural resources available, there
has to be sufficient capital equipment to be able to exploit
them.
Title: California oil is a source of wealth and fear. Copyright: Getty Images,
available from Education Image Gallery.
  Natural climatic factors are
at the heart of a large
amount of inequality – it is
not coincidence that
countries with an equitable
Caused climate are the most
economically developed
by:  Natural climate and climate
change tend to affect those
countries least able to help
Extremes of weather tend to impact most heavily on
countries who have the lowest ability to cope with such
themselves
extremes.
Title: Three year drought dries up Pakistan lake. Copyright: Getty
Images, available from Education Image Gallery
  the lack of coverage of negative externalities by the person
who creates them (developer, infrastructure operator, plant
operator, waste exporting country, etc.) and by the person
who benefits from the service and/or production derived from
a polluting, risky and/or harmful activity

Caused  the unequal distribution of negative and positive impacts.

In fact, the positive impacts of an infrastructure often affect
by: much broader scales (region, country) than the negative
impacts (pollution, risks, nuisances such as road congestion,
noise, possible devaluation of real estate, etc.) that focus on
the infrastructure reception area. This phenomenon fosters the
impression of injustice, both social, economic and
environmental, a feeling of “territorial sacrifice” in the name
of the general will.
  planning practices can encourage the emergence and
Caused entrenchment of strong environmental inequalities.

by:  policy towards minority and/or stigmatized population

groups can create or reinforce environmental inequalities
 Asset
Inequality
 asset inequality - but not income inequality - has a relatively
large negative impact on growth. They also find that a highly
unequal distribution of assets reduces the effectiveness of
educational interventions. This means that policymakers
Asset should be more concerned about households’ access to
assets, and to the opportunities associated with them, than
Inequality about the distribution of income. Long-term growth might be
improved by measures to prevent large jumps in asset
inequality - possibly irreversible asset loss because of
exogenous shocks - and by policies to facilitate asset
accumulation by the poor.
 Not just the quantity but also the quality of assets can impact
on inequality

 Individuals – ownership of houses, cars, consumer goods,

Asset etc.

Inequality  Countries
 Access to raw materials, natural resources, infrastructure
– roads, rail telecommunications, etc.
 Amount and quality of capital assets
 Amount and quality of human assets
 1. The tax code
2. Bank bailouts
3. Quantitative easing
4. Planning laws
Caused 5. Not measuring inflation properly

by: 6. Debt-based money

7. Zero interest-rate policies
8. Income tax
9. The decline in the purchasing power of money
10. Government subsidies
 Gender
Inequality
 is the social process by which men and women are not
treated equally. The treatment may arise from distinctions
regarding biology, psychology, or cultural norms prevalent in
the society. Some of these distinctions are empirically
grounded while others appear to be socially constructed.
Gender refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals
Inequality based on their gender. It arises from differences in socially
constructed gender roles.[1] Gender systems are often
dichotomous and hierarchical; gender binary systems may
reflect the inequalities that manifest in numerous dimensions
of daily life. Gender inequality stems from distinctions,
whether empirically grounded or socially constructed.
  Evidence suggests women
still paid less than men for
the same job
 Some countries actively
discriminate against
Gender women
 Men still dominate
Inequality positions of power and
responsibility
An Afghan woman operates a paving machine on a
road that is to be re-surfaced in Kabul, Afghanistan.  ‘Glass ceiling’ – limits the
Women working was outlawed during the rule of
the Taliban but have now become more common extent to which women can
since the demise of the regime.
Title: An Afghan woman operates heavy machinery.
make it to the top
Copyright: Getty Images, available from Education Image
Gallery
 Uneven access to education
Lack of employment equality
Job segregation

Caused Lack of bodily autonomy

Poor medical care
by: Lack of political representation
Lack of religious freedom
Racism
Societal mindsets
 Wealth
Inequality
 Wealth refers to the total amount of assets of an individual or
household. This may include financial assets, such as bonds
and stocks, property and private pension rights. Therefore,
wealth inequality refers to the unequal distribution of assets
in a group of people.

Wealth is the unequal distribution of assets amongst people and

organizations. It encompasses not only the lack of financial
Inequality resources but also the lack of social capital, which allows an
individual to access the networks and opportunities necessary
to live a dignified life.
is a significant challenges of modern times. It can lead to
unequal societies, social instability, violence and unrest, and
further societal problems that affect the world at large.
  Differences in wealth –
different to that of income
 Income = flow
 Wealth = stock
Wealth  Wealth = houses, land,
physical assets such as
Inequality cultural items – artwork,
sculptures, etc.
 Inherited wealth still a
source of inequality
The trappings of inherited wealth still serve as a source to
generate inequality.
Title: Cartier Polo. Copyright: Getty Images, available from Education
Image Gallery
 Wealth
Inequality

Share of the wealth: 1% of the population owns 23% of the wealth.

Source: Office for National Statistics (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=2). (Crown copyright material is reproduced with the
permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.)
 Government Policy
This section is large and is divided into sections –

Caused  Economic Policy

 Taxation Policy
by:  Employment Law
 Benefits Policy
Caused
by:
  impose a tax payment; it is not about who and how you will
collect a tax but it is about how to distribute the tax equally or what
to do with the tax

 increase social services such as the following: increase food

Solutions stamps for poor people

to  raise the minimum wage

Inequality  increase social security for people in the poor, working, and
middle classes

 create more college grants and loans for people in the poor,
working, and middle classes
  create more child care subsidies for lower income single parents
who are working at (near) minimum wage jobs so that they can
work and survive at these kinds of jobs

Solutions
 create more housing subsidies for poor and lower income families

to  increase funding for public schools located in poor and lower

income neighborhoods so that children from these neighborhoods
Inequality get the same quality public education as do children in middle-class
and upper middle-class neighborhoods.

 increase unemployment compensation

 “A society that aims equality before liberty
will end up neither be the two but a society
that aims liberty before equality will not
Bottom end up with equality but it will end up with
Line: a closer approach to equality than any kind
of system that has ever been developed.”
- Milton Friedman
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