Social Inequality

Sociology- Unit 2
 Introduction-What is it?
• It exists in all known societies
• Refers to uneven distribution of:
-Resources such as money and power
-Opportunities
• Studies of inequality explore:
-The nature of inequality
-How much inequality there is and who gets it
-Why some people get more than others
 Cage and social inequality
Class Piachaud ( 2009 )Argues
that the causes
Of inequality within the
Age UK include large
Differences between
people in terms of
Inherited wealth,
Gender education and access
To the labour market

Ethnicity
 Social stratification
• Definition- Describes the way society is structured in a
hierarchy of strata or layers that are unequally ranked on
above another
• Stratification involves inequality between social
groups in the distribution of economic and
social resources
 Inequalities
• Wealth- Refers to ownership of assets such as
property, land and art as well as money inn
savings accounts
• Income- Received in cash or in kind
• Status- Refers to social standing given by other
members of the community
• Power- Relates to the ability of an
individual or group to get what
they want despite any opposition
from others
 Life chances
• Refers to people’s chances of achieving
positive or negative outcomes as they
progress through life
• Life chances are not distributed equally
between different individuals or groups as
social factors affect them
• Those in higher social classes have access to
more desirable things than lower social
classes
 Inequalities in health
• Refers to differences in health outcomes between
social groups or geographical areas.
• Based on 2001 census, Shaw (2006)and her colleagues
argue that inequalities in healthcare still exist in
Britain. They found fewer doctors in areas where a
higher proportion of people needed medical care
• Life expectancy has improved and
people live longer but Shaw argues
that the life expectancy gap between
different social groups has widened
 Social position
• Ascribed- Social position fixed at birth and
unchanging over time
• Achieved- they are earned on the basis of
personal talents or merit.
• Social mobility- The movement between the
layers or strata
 Caste system
• People are born into a
particular caste and their
social position is ascribed
at birth
• System is closed so there is
little movement between
different layers.
• Traditionally between
different occupations
• Linked to Hindu religion
and they believe they are
born into their caste based
on their behaviour in their
previous life
 Apartheid
• South Africa 1948-94
• Based on government policy of racial
secretion, and ethnicity was used as the basis
for stratification
• Applied to all aspects of society and so access
to health, education , housing and
employment was segregated
according to whether a person
was black or white
 Social class
• Based on economic factors such as occupation and
income
• Open system so status
can be achieved and social
mobility is possible
upper
• Roberts 2001- There is
no agreed definition of social
class and sociologists view it in Middle

different ways

Working
 Marx on class
• Saw capitalist society as a highly stratified system
• Bourgeoisie and proletariat
• The wealthy bourgeoisie owned the means of
production through their ownership of property, big
businesses, land and factories
• The proletariat did not own any
property and had to sell their labour to
the bourgeoisie in order to survive
• Marx saw the bourgeoisie getting
bigger and wealthier and the proletariats
need to rebel and revolt.
 Weber on class
• Max weber 1864-1920
• Argued that the classes were formed in marketplaces such as the
labour market where one class of people hired and other class sold
their labour
• Weber saw the process of hiring labour and the rewards that arose
from this as crucial in explaining class
• He argued class is a group of people who have similar access to life
chances of being successful
• He identified 4 different classes:
-Property owners
-The petty bourgeoisie
-Professionals
-The working class
 Weber on class
• Like Marx, Weber saw class as based on economic
distribution but he stressed the importance of
non-economic factors like status and , power in
determining life chances
• While classes were formed in market places ,
status groups could be identified by the prestige
attached to their style of life
• He argued the different classes had different
status, wealth and power
 Functionalists and stratification
• Argues that some positions in an advanced industrial
society are more important than others because they are
vital to the continuation of society.
• The top positions require specific high level skills and
qualifications to perform role effectively.
• Argue that only talented people will only be persuaded to
undertake the lengthy qualifications to get the top
positions
• High positions need to look
attractive=Status,pay
• Think inequality is necessary
to attract the most talented people
 How is social class measured?
• The registrar General’s classification
• UK’s official government scale from 1911 untill
1998
• Distinguishes between manual and non
manual occupations
• Manual= Jobs that involve
physical effort
• Skilled or non skilled
 Problems with the registrar general’s classification
• Classifications based on occupation cannot
accommodate people without jobs
• Other people without occupations were allocated to a
class according the class of the head of the household
in which they lived.
• Men and unmarried women were allocated to a class
on the basis of their occupation . When more married
women went into paid employment in the 1970s, the
practice of assessing the class position of a family of
the male’s occupation was challenging
• Occupational class scales and job titles do not tell us
about an individuals wealth and property
 The NS-SEC
• National statistics socio-economic classification
has replaced the Registrar General’s scale
• It is based on occupation but it covers the whole
adult population and it can measure and predict
health and educational outcomes
• They scale groups together that have similar:
-Rewards from work
-Employment status
-Levels of authority and control
 What is gender?
• Sex= whether a person is considered male or female,
concerning biological differences
• Gender= Describe the different social practices,
expectations and ideas that are associated with masculinity
and femininity
• Families often socialise their children into their gender
identity
• The toys they are given differentiate between genders
• Sociologists argue that the process of socialization is highly
gendered
• Holmes(2009) argued that as part of socialisation, boys and
girls are challenged into doing different things
• Gender is socially constructed
 Inequalities and gender
• Anti-discrimination laws
• Equal pay act(1970)- Employers must pay men and women the same
salary for doing the same work
• Sex discrimination act (1975)-Made it unlawful to discriminate or treat
someone less favourably based on their sex
• Sexism- Refers to discrimination on the basis of sex
• Li et al (2008) Note women today are more likely to achieve good
educational qualifications, jobs and salaries
• Holmes(2009) Argues society is still organised to benefit men and not
women
• Because we live in patriarchal society:
-Society is controlled by men
-Men generally have a bigger share of rewards
• Feminists argue that gender inequalities are
‘man made’
 Inequality at work
• Occupations are still gender biased e.g.. Nurses are
mostly female and fire-fighters are mostly men
• 2007- 19% of employed men were working in skilled
trades compared to 2% of women
• Women tend to be in lower- or middle class jobs whilst
men tend to be higher grade, senior positions
• Li et al (2008) Found women
had worse pay levels than men of
similar age and educational levels
 Inequality at work
• Sex discrimination within workplace- Women are continued
to be treated less favourably than men simply based on
their sex. However, Li et al (2008) found out that women
were less likely to be denied a promotion than men
• Women's triple shift- Duscombe and Marsden (1995)
argued that many women do paid work, domestic labour
and emotional work so they are held back in applying for
promotion at work
• Childcare provision- Some critics
argue britain has inadequate childcare
provision for under 5s, therefore
preventing women with young children
from participating in full time emplyment
 Ethnicity
• Apartheid in south Africa was based on government policy of racial
serration in which ethnicity was the main basis for stratification
• Some sociologists argue that in contemporary societies, there are
inequalities between different ethnic groups
• Ethnicity- Describes a group of people who are from a different
ethnic group from the general population who are the ethnic
majority
• Race- Some races were thought to be superior to others and this
belief was used to justify the oppression of one group by another
• Sociologists reject the idea that humankind can be divided into
different racial groups but instead racial differences created by
society rather than rooted in biology
• Racism- When people are treated differently
on the basis of their ethnicity
 Addressing ethnic inequality
• The introduction of equality and anti-discrimination
legislation e.g.. The 1976 Race relations Act outlawed
direct and indirect discrimination
• Establishment of the Commission for racial Equality,
which later merged with the Equal Opportunities
commission to become the Equality and Human rights
commission
• The recognition of institutional racism existing within
organisations
• Equal opportunities policies supporting
• diversity in the workplace and education
 Ethnic inequalities
• Having educational qualifications improves the
life chances and quality of life of all ethnic groups
( Li et al 2008)
• However, prejudice and discrimination in the
labour market exist so the life chances of some
ethnic groups are affected
• Li et al 2008 found out that all
ethnic minority groups had worse
chances of accessing employment
than their white peers
 Sociologists and age
• Chronological age- How long they have been alive and
used to determine whether you are allowed to
participante in a range of activities
• Biological age- Related to physical changes taking place
in their bodies
• Age as a social category- Vincent 2001 notes that age is
one of the few social categories used in all societies.
We have expectations of
what activities people do at certain ages
• Sociologists argue that age is
socially constructed
 Childhood
• Aries 1962 indicates that in medieval times, children over 5
were seen as small adults who participated in the adult
world of work and leisure
• 19th century- Child labour was common
• Restrictions have been imposed on employing children and
full time compulsory education has been introduced
• In modern societies, childhood is seen as a separate stage
to youth and adulthood but in
other cultures, there is not as much of
a clear separation of childhood and
adulthood
 Youth
• Youth is seen as a period of transition between childhood
and adulthood
• Mizen 2002, notes that there is no obvious agreement at
which youth ends or begins
• Young people may continue to be financially dependent on
their parents and their parents or other family members
• ‘teenagers’ emerged as a social category in the 1950s
• Other societies would not necessarily
recognise the notion of youth as a separate
stage of life
• Pilcher 1995- In some cultures there
may be ceremonies to mark this transition .
 Older age
• The status of older people vary between different societies
• In Britain it is seen as something to be avoided
• Pilcher 1995-For the Venda-speaking people of South Africa, old
age is regarded as a pleasure
• Ageism- A person is treated differently on the basis of their age
• Young people an older people are more vulnerable than other
groups
• For example, people in their
50s and 60s may find it difficult to get a job because some employer
hold stereotypical ideas about their inability to learn new skills
• Employment Equality regulations came
into force in 2006 against age discrimination in
employment and training
 Wealth and income
• Wealth-ownership of assets that are valued at
a particular point in time. It also includes
saving accounts and shares in companies.
• Income- Refers to the flow of resources which
individuals and households receive over a
specific period of time. The can be received in
cash of kind
 Distribution of wealth
• Roberts 2001- There are vast inequalities in
the distribution of both wealth and income
but wealth is more unequal than income.
• Superrich-
- Those who own wealth in the form of
industry, finance and commerce
- Upperclass landowners who
have inherited their wealth
 Distribution of income
• Income is distributed unevenly between
households in the UK
• 1979 the top 10% of people received 21% of
income and the poorest recieved 4%
• In 2007 the top 10% received 40% of income
whilst the poorest 10%
recieved 3%
 Social mobility
• Refers to people moving up and down a
societies strata
• High rates of social mobility can be used to
argue that:
- Status is based on achievement rather than
ascription and we live in a meritocratic society
- Individuals are rewarded on the basis of
personal qualities rather than
inherited wealth ( Crompton 2008)
 Types of social mobility
• Intra-generational- Movements of individuals
over the course of their life from one
occupational classification to another . Could
occur as a result of being promoted or changing
career
• Intergenerational- Movements between the
generations of a family. If a child enters a
different occupational classification from their
parents , intergenerational mobility has occurred
 Extent of social mobility
• Long range; From the bottom strata to the top
or vice versa
• Short range; From an unskilled to a skilled
manual job
• Self- recruitment; When children remain in
the same social class as their parents
 Social mobility and meritocracy
• Where selection is based on merit, education overcomes
social origins and disadvantage.
• In merit selection there should be:
- A weak link between social class origin and educational
success
• A strong link between educational success and social
destination ( Gorard 2008) Educational achievements
• Routes to mobility:
-Marriage
-Windfalls such as inheritance or big
lottery win
-Changes in occupational structure
 Social mobility In Britain
• Goldthorpes 1972-74 mobility study showed
that although working class children could and
did end up in middle class occupations, they
were much less likely than middle class
children to do so.
• Crompton (2008) Notes that in Britain, social
mobility is in decline, partly due to the change
in the occupational structure
 Problems with studying social mobility
• Some studies of intergenerational mobility
only focus on males , so women and most
lone parent families would be excluded
• Mobility studies record movement at two
points in time which has problems as a young
person might be in a temporary job ect.
 Poverty
• Absolute poverty- do not have access to basic
necessities of life such as food, clean water,
shelter, heating and clothes. However, this is hard
to determine the minimum needed to survive.
• Relative poverty- Poor in comparison to others in
their society. This can differentiate in different
societies, such as a middle class man may be
relatively deprived if he cant afford
to go on holidays while a working class
man may not be able to go out with
his friends.
 Problems with defining poverty
• Walker and walker 1997 argue that the definition
of poverty is chosen by the state is crucial .This is
because it determines what extent the
government excepts that poverty exists, what
policies are adopted and how the people will be
treated.
• The child poverty action group sees poverty not
as simply in terms of being short of money,
clothing or food, but having limited access to
decent services such as housing, education and
health services
 Measuring poverty
• The main official UK government way of
measuring poverty is in terms of low incomes
• The low income threshold is set at 60% of the
median income of the population after
housing costs.
• 22% is below the UKS government poverty
level ( Piachaud 2009)
 Measuring poverty
• The national poverty and social exclusion survey examined the extent of
poverty and social exclusion in Britain.
• It looks at:
- Income levels
- Lack of items seen as necessities by the general population
- Subjective measures
• Found out that 26% of the British population were living in poverty and
poverty rates had sharply risen
• Butler and Watt 2007 identify several factors to explain the increase in
poverty and inequality:
- Increase in the proportion of working households in which there is no
owner.
- An increase in the pay gap between low skilled and high skilled workers
- Changes in Taxation
- Demographic changes
 People experiencing poverty
• The PSE survey found out that people who are
more likely to live in poverty are:
- Lone parent households
- Households with no paid workers
- Families with a child under 11
- Children and young people
- women
 Ethnicity and poverty
• People who live in UK households headed by
someone from an ethnic minority group are at
risk of living in low-income households
• Particularly of people of Pakistani and
Bangladeshi heritage
• Lister 2004 found out that most explanations
are due to racism.
 Gender and poverty
• Evidence from the EU and USA shows women
face a greater risk of poverty than men (lister
2004)
• Millar(1997) points out that lone mothers and
older women living alone are more likely to be in
poverty
- Women live longer than men= more old women
living alone= less likely to have an income
- Women are more likely to be head of lone parent
families
- Women earn less
 Groups at risk of poverty
• In 2005/6 children were particularly vulnerable to poverty if
they were living:
- With 4 or more children
- Where the head of the household is a lone parent
- Where the head of the household is from an ethnic minority
group
• In1999, the labour gov. Set a target to halve child poverty by
2010 and eradicate by 2020
• Lister (2008) argues that the people with disabilities create an
extra expense
 Cycle of poverty
• Official statistics provide is with snapshots of
the proportion of household below average
income at a particular point in time.
• The poverty cycle shows different stages of
our life and where we are in poverty .
 Culture of poverty
• During the 1950s and 60s, the persistence of poverty among some
groups was explained in terms of their culture and their way of life
• According to this view, people from the poorest section of society
were socialized within the subculture of poverty
• Individuals in poverty developed a way of life and set of values to
cope with their position :
-People can do little to change their situation so they might as well
accept it
-Live in the moment and don't worry about what tomorrow may bring
-There is no point in saving up or planning for the future
• Through socialization within families, these values are passed on
from parents to children.
 The cycle of deprivation
• Supporters of the culture of poverty approach argued that
poverty persisted from one generation to the next ,locking
people in the cycle of deprivation
• Financial or material deprivation involves having
insufficient money to be able to afford goods and services.
• Cultural deprivation means that children's backgrounds do
not provide them with the resources to perform well at
school. They have less parental encouragement and a
poorer educational experience.
• To remove poverty according to this explanation, the policy
was to employ social workers and use local authority
provisions to help children break out of the cycle of
deprivation.
 Cycle of deprivation
• 1. Some children are born into poverty into poor and deprived households
• 2. They have a deprived childhood by financial and cultural deprivation
• 3. As a result, the children are less likely to perform well at school, gain
qualifications and stay on beyond the minimum age at school
• 4. As young adults, their future opportunities are limited as they are likely
to be in unskilled, low paid work.
• 5.As adults they live in poverty
• 6. Many will become parents of deprived children so the cycle of
deprivation continues over time
 Welfare dependency and the underclass
• New right approaches have attempted to explain poverty in ways similar to the culture
of poverty and the cycle of deprivation
• In the 1980s and 90s, the New right approaches identified the emergence in Britain of
an underclass , a group whose attitudes and values are different from those in
mainstream society
• Underclass- people who are living in mainstream poverty and who are unable to gain a
living
• Charles Murray (1996) focused of the behaviour of individuals who he saw as the
undeserving poor.
• He focused of the three symptoms of the underclass: crime, extramarital births and
economic inactivity among men of working age.
• He argued that the welfare reform encouraged crime, single parenthood and
unemployment
• According to new right approaches, the
undeserving poor remain in poverty as the
welfare state encourages them to depend on
state provision.
 Social exclusion
• During the 1980s and 90s, a distinction was drawn between poverty
and social exclusion
• Poverty= Lack of material resources, particularly income
• Social exclusion= Being shut out or excluded from participation in
societies social, economic, political and cultural life
• Burchardt et al (2002) define social exclusion in terms of being
unable to participate in key activities in society such as:
- Consumption= purchasing goods and services
- Production= Participating in socially valuable activity
- Political engagement
- Social interaction
 Marxism and poverty
• A Marxist would argue that poverty results from
the class based inequalities which are built into a
capitalist society .
• They argue that capitalism as an economic
system generates extreme wealth for the
capitalist class
• Poverty works as an advantage of the bourgeoisie
as they have more power
• They think the only way to remove poverty is for
a revolutionary change in society an to replace
capitalism
Unemployment and the inadequacies of the welfare
state
• Piachaud 2009 sees unemployment as a
central issue in understanding the causes for
poverty
• It is argued that the solution to ending poverty
is to provide people in poverty with more
money ( Shaw 2002) by increasing the value of
pension and welfare benefits
 Does social class still matter?
• It has been argued that the working class has shrunk in
size as a result in changes in the occupational structure
and a decline in manufacturing industries.
• There has also been a sharp decline in trade union
membership since the 1970s
• After the second world war, surveys indicated that
most people in England associated themselves as
either working or middle class, most manual as
working and non manual as middle ( Butler and Watt
2007)
• During the last 20 years, class has
become less important as social identity .
 Does social class still matter?
• Saunders (1996) argues that class origins are not very important in
shaping outcomes in modern Britain. He suggests that the
supposed advantages enjoyed by children born to relatively affluent
parents are not particularly significant in shaping outcomes
• In Saunders view, social background and social identities can have
an influence on where people end up in the occupational hierarchy.
He argues the following social factors all count for something:
- Parents
- Gender
- Type of school attended
- - conditions at home
 Divisions based on gender, age and ethnicity
• An alternative version of the decline of class view argues that divisions
based on gender, age and ethnicity are more important:
- 1950s= Higher proportion of the workforce was male and as more women
are now in paid employment, this has highlighted the significance of
inequalities at work
- Gender pay gap still exists
- Ethnic groups earn significantly less
- Some ethnic groups are still overrepresented among low income
households
- Gender, ethnicity and age are becoming more important than class as
sources of social identity
- Women, children an older people as well as some
ethnic minority groups are more vulnerable to poverty
- Power is unequal in society
 Continuing significance of class in the 21st century
• Despite social changes, it is argued that class remains a central concept in
sociology because social class continues to impact on people’s daily lives
• Roberts (2001)- argues social class still matters in contemporary Britain. He
also argues that it is possible for inequalities based on class, gender and
ethnicity to exist in one society
• Furlong et al (2006) agrees that social class still matters. For instant, people
from privileges backgrounds attend elite institutions attend Oxford and
Cambridge, therefore they are able to have more stable careers.
• E.g..In 2016, 42% of BAFTA winners went to private school and this is
disproportionate to only 7% of the population attending private school
• Curtice and Heath 2009 note that, compared to the 1960s, a smaller
proportion of people today identify
themselves as working class and a bigger
proportion identify themselves as middle
class (embourgeoisement)
 Sociologists in social inequality
• Piachaud ( 2009 )Argues that the causes Of inequality within the UK include large Differences
between people in terms of Inherited wealth, education and access To the labour market

• Shaw (2006)and her colleagues argue that inequalities in healthcare still exist in Britain. They
found fewer doctors in areas where a higher proportion of people needed medical care
• Roberts 2001- There is no agreed definition of social class and sociologists view it in different
ways
• Max weber 1864-1920 Argued that the classes were formed in marketplaces such as the
labour market where one class of people hired and other class sold their labour
• Holmes(2009) argued that as part of socialisation, boys and girls are challenged into doing
different things
• Li et al (2008) Note women today are more likely to achieve good educational qualifications,
jobs and salaries. ) Found women had worse pay levels than men of similar age and
educational levels
• Piachaud 2009 sees unemployment as a central issue in understanding the causes for poverty
• It is argued that the solution to ending poverty is to provide people in poverty with more
money ( Shaw 2002) by increasing the value of pension and welfare benefits
 Sociologists in social inequality
• Duscombe and Marsden (1995) argued that many women do paid work,
domestic labour and emotional work so they are held back in applying for
promotion at work
• Li et al 2008 found out that all ethnic minority groups had worse chances
of accessing employment than their white peers
• Vincent 2001 notes that age is one of the few social categories used in all
societies. We have expectations of what activities people do at certain
ages
• Aries 1962 indicates that in medieval times, children over 5 were seen as
small adults who participated in the adult world of work and leisure
• Mizen 2002, notes that there is no obvious agreement at which youth
ends or begins
• Pilcher 1995- In some cultures there may be ceremonies to mark this
transition .For the Venda-speaking people of South Africa, old age is
regarded as a pleasure
 Sociologists in social inequality
• Roberts 2001- There are vast inequalities in the distribution of both wealth and income but wealth is more
unequal than income
• Individuals are rewarded on the basis of personal qualities rather than inherited wealth ( Crompton 2008)
• A strong link between educational success and social destination ( Gorard 2008) Educational achievements
• Goldthorpes 1972-74 mobility study showed that although working class children could and did end up in middle
class occupations, they were much less likely than middle class children to do so.
• Crompton (2008) Notes that in Britain, social mobility is in decline, partly due to the change in the occupational
structure
• Walker and walker 1997 argue that the definition of poverty is chosen by the state is crucial .This is because it
determines what extent the government excepts that poverty exists, what policies are adopted and how the
people will be treated.
• Butler and Watt 2007 identify several factors to explain the increase in poverty and inequality:
- Increase in the proportion of working households in which there is no owner.
- An increase in the pay gap between low skilled and high skilled workers
- Changes in Taxation
- Demographic changes
• Lister 2004 found out that most explanations are due to racism.
• Millar(1997) points out that lone mothers and older women living alone are more likely to be in
poverty
• Charles Murray (1996) focused of the behaviour of individuals who he saw as the undeserving poor.
He focused of the three symptoms of the underclass: crime, extramarital births and economic inactivity
among men of working age.
 Sociologists in social inequality
• Burchardt et al (2002) define social exclusion in terms of being unable to participate in key activities in
society such as:
- Consumption= purchasing goods and services
- Production= Participating in socially valuable activity
- Political engagement
- Social interaction
• Saunders (1996) argues that class origins are not very important in shaping outcomes in modern Britain.
He suggests that the supposed advantages enjoyed by children born to relatively affluent parents are not
particularly significant in shaping outcomes
• Roberts (2001)- argues social class still matters in contemporary Britain. He also argues that it is possible
for inequalities based on class, gender and ethnicity to exist in one society
• Furlong et al (2006) agrees that social class still matters. For instant, people from privileges backgrounds
attend elite institutions attend Oxford and Cambridge, therefore they are able to have more stable
careers.
• Curtice and Heath 2009 note that, compared to the 1960s, a smaller proportion of people today identify
themselves as working class and a bigger proportion identify themselves as middle class
(embourgeoisement)