SOCIAL AND POLITICAL

STRATIFICATION:
SOCIAL INEQUALITY
 Social inequality
- occurs when resources in a given society are
distributed unevenly, typically through
norms of allocation, that engender specific
patterns along lines of socially defined categories
of persons.
- Patterns of unequal access to social
resources
- a condition in which members of society have
differing amounts of wealth
prestige or power.
Access to social, political, and
symbolic capital
• Social Capital - the ability of a collective to act
together to pursue a common goal.
• Political Capital - refers to the trust, good will,
and influence possessed by a political actor, such
as politician, to mobilize support toward a
preferred policy outcome.
• Symbolic Capital - refers to the resources that
one possesses which is a function of honor,
prestige or recognition, or any other traits that
one values within a culture.
 Gender inequality

• refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of

individuals based on their gender.
• It arises from differences in socially
constructed gender roles.
 Ethnic minorities
• is the result of hierarchical social distinctions
between racial and ethnic categories within a
society and often established based on
characteristics such as skin color and other
physical characteristics or an individual's place
of origin or culture.
 Other minorities (E.G. PERSONS
WITH DISABILITIES)
• The disability rights movement
has contributed to an understanding of people
with disabilities (including not to be called
'disabled') as a minority or a coalition of
minorities who are disadvantaged by society,
not just as people who are disadvantaged by
their impairments.
 Global Inequality (RELATIONSHIPS
BETWEEN STATES AND NON-STATE
ACTORS IN THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY)
 Global Inequality:
Differences among Countries
• Countries can be stratified according to their per-
person gross national product. Forty percent of
the world's population live in low-income
countries, compared with only 16 percent in high-
income countries.
• An estimated 1.3 billion people, or nearly one in
four people, live in poverty today, an increase
since the early 1980s. Many are the victims of
discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or tribal
affiliation.
 Theories of Global Inequality

• Market-oriented theories, such as modernization theory,

claim that cultural and institutional barriers to
development explain the poverty of low-income societies.
In this view, to eliminate poverty, fatalistic attitudes must
be overcome, government meddling in economic affairs
ended, and a high rate of savings and investment
encouraged.
• Dependency theories claim that global poverty is the result
of the exploitation of poor countries by wealthy ones.
Dependent development theory argues that even though
the economic fate of poor countries is ultimately
determined by wealthy ones, some development is
possible within dependent capitalistic relations.
• World-systems theory focuses on the
relationships among core, peripheral, and semi
peripheral countries in the global economy; long-
term trends in the global economy; and global
commodity chains that erase national borders.
• State-centered theories emphasize the role of
governments in fostering economic development.
These theories draw on the experience of the
rapidly growing East Asian newly industrializing
economies.