UNIT 3: SOCIAL INEQUALITY

WHAT IS SOCIAL INEQUALITY?

• Social inequality refers to the unequal distribution of resources,
opportunities, and privileges among individuals or groups in a
society.
 WHAT IS SOCIAL
STRATIFICATION?
• It is a hierarchy in which groups have different statuses and
different levels of privilege.
 FORM OF SOCIAL
STRATIFICATION
Forms of social stratification in modern industrial societies :
• Social class- a group of people having the same social & economic status
• Age – age is a form of stratification, as in being young, middle age or old
• Ethnicity -
• Gender- biological distinction of being male or female
 FORMS OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
Traditional forms of social stratification include:
IN TRADIRIONAL SOCIETIES
Slavery
• traditionally, citizens had rights to own slaves.They were treated as property, forced to work & had no freedom
Estates
• It is a social layer in which individuals were born in and could not move.
• It was a later form of stratification in feudal societies in Europe.
• The three estates were: clergy(priests),nobility & the commoners
• There was some social mobility & intermarriage
• Slightly open than the caste system
• Caste
• A closed stratification system traditionally found in India
• People inherited their status at birth & could not change it.
• People had to marry within their caste
• There were strict rules, someone from the lower caste like outcastes were thought to pollute higher caste members
 ASCRIBED AND ACHIEVED STATUS

Ascribed status Achieved status

• A status given to people by their • A status that individuals acquire through
group/society, over which they have little or their own effort, choice & competition
no control • Common in modern industrial societies
• Common in traditional societies
• Examples of ascribed status:age, sex,ethnic
group,religion,social class
• Cannot change apart from age, religion &
social class
 LIFE CHANCES
These are opportunities that people have to improve their lives
Depend on aspects of stratification such as social class, gender,and ethnicity
Includes opportunities for:
• Employment
• Education
• Good health & well-being
• Housing
• Social mobility
• Life expectancy
 FACTORS AFFECTING LIFE
Opportunities for life chances indicate an individual’s quality of life
Life chances are affected by the nature of stratification in society
CHANCES
It is also affected by norms, values & laws
• Laws limit groups’ human and civil rights, preventing them from improving their life chances.
• For example, segregation laws in South Africa during the Apartheid limited the life chances of Black South
Africans
• African-American life chances have also been limited by the denial of human and civil rights movements
campaigning against segregation.
Individual’s perception of their life chances is another factor
• For example, the working class may have a negative attitude toward life, feeling that they have little control over
what happens to them
• This attitude is called fatalism
• Marxists argue that working-class fatalism comes from their false consciousness.
• Workers have been socialized into accepting that the capitalist society is fair, that their own lowly position is their
own fault, and that those who have power & and wealth deserve their positions]’
 CONTINUATION
• Gratification: some groups plan for the long term e.g. by saving money, this is deferred
gratification. This improves their life chances.
• Others practice immediate gratification, they consume everything they get at once and this
means they cannot improve their lives
 LIFE EXPECTANCY AS AN EXAMPLE OF
Life expectancy is the average number of years a person can expect to live LIFE CHANCES
It varies by:
• Gender: women tend to live longer than men because of the following reasons:
Men are more likely to be in high-risk situations that cause accidental deaths, including car accidents
They consume a lot of alcohol, tobacco & and other drugs, making them more likely to suffer from serious
diseases
Their work exposes them to risks e.g accidents in mining & factory work
• Social class; working class people have a lower life expectancy than middle class people in the same society
because;
Their occupations are more dangerous
They live in unhealthy environments, near sources of pollution or in damp, cold houses
• Biological reasons. People with underlying health conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure have low life
expectancy.
• Ethnicity : Minority ethnic groups have low socioeconomic status that affect their life chances, e.g racial
discrimination in accessing services
 MAIN FEATURES OF SOCIAL
INEQUALITY
• There are 4 features of social inequality:
• Wealth & Income
• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Social class
 WEALTH &
INCOME
• Wealth: money ,savings and property that can be bought and sold to generate income.
• forms of wealth:
 Stocks and shares in companies
 Land
 Houses & other buildings
 Works or art,jewellery,other valuable items
 Pensions
• These forms of wealth is an important indicator of social class position
• The very wealth do not need to work because their wealth creates more wealth.
• Some wealth can be inherited and some is acquired through hardwork
• In the UK and most parts of the world, wealth is unequally distributed
• Distribution of wealth, refers to the way in which wealth is distributed
• Wealthy people have a higher life expectancy and improved life chances
• Income refers to the sum of earnings from work & other sources.
• The main source of income for most people include:
INCOME
Pay from their employment
Social security and other state benefits
Pensions for those retired
Interest on building society & bank accounts
Dividends on shares.
• People do not receive all their income because of taxes they have to pay like deductions on national insurance &
pension contributions
• It is important because it has consequences on people’s life chances., for example, those with high incomes are
able to live in a larger house and pay for private health care and education
• In UK there is a high inequality in income, people in top 10% get 31% of all income w hile the bottom 10%get
just 15
• They poorest have become more poor while the rich have gotten richer.
• The falling behind of the poor has led to an increase in poverty
 INEQUALITIES IN DIFFERENT
COUNTRIES
• Different countries have different levels of inequality
• Countries are working towards reducing inequality in wealth & income
• The welfare states & governments in power are committed to making the society more equal.
• Welfare state: ways in which governments try to provide for the less well off and reduce social inequality.
• Some of the more equal modern industrial societies are Japan, Norway, Sweden & Finland
 MEASURES TO REDUCE SOCIAL
INEQUALITY
• Governments do not see inequality as a problem.
• modern industrial societies see themselves as meritocracies: a society in which individuals achieve the level that their talents and
abilities deserve
• Social inequality can be reduced by :
• Welfare states redistribute wealth through benefits for those people who are unemployed, have a disability or chronic illness,
those with income below a set level, and are lone parents.
• Setting a minimum wage.
• This means that no one should be paid so little that they cannot support themselves
• As the cost of living changes all the time, governments should also update the minimum wage.
• Equal opportunities:
• laws preventing discrimination against disadvantaged groups and ensuring everyone has the same opportunities have been
established .For example,in Mauritius, the Equal Opportunities Act was passed in 2008.
• In the UK, the Equal Pay Act 1970 was passed to ensure equal pay for equal work by men and women
• Progressive taxation: people who are wealthy or have a higher pay higher taxes than those having lower incomes
 WHY THE WELFARE STATES HAVE
BEEN CRITICIZED
• It encourages a something-for-nothing dependency culture in which people feel they do not
need to look after themselves
• Welfare payments have become too generous,e.g discouraging unemployed people from looking
for jobs
• The welfare system has become expensive because it provides for more people now.
• There is a risk of producing an underclass whose values are based on the reliance on welfare
• The system is open to abuse as some people claim benefits they are not entitled to.
• States have become nanny states as they are providing for a high proportion of its citizens
 POVERTY: THE PROBLEMS OF
DEFINING WEALTH & POVERTY
• It is difficult to define poverty.One way of defining it is by talking about absolute and relative
poverty.
• Absolute poverty: being without some or all of the basic necessities of life
• Relative poverty: being poor in relation to others in the same society.
• Groups most likely to live in poverty