Social inequality

sociology social inequality

1. Social Inequality in sociology iqbal hussain

2. Social inequality Social inequality is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society. Although the United States differs from most European nations that have a titled nobility, the U.S. is still highly stratified. Social inequality has several important dimensions. Income is the earnings from work or investments, while wealth is the total value of money and other assets minus debts. Other important dimensions include power, occupational prestige, schooling, ancestry, and race and ethnicity.

3. Social inequality results from a society organized by hierarchies of class, race, and gender that broker access to resources and rights in ways that make their distribution unequal. It can maninfest in a variety of ways, like income and wealth inequality, unequal access to education and cultural resources , and differential treatment by the police and judicial system, among others.

4. There are two main ways to measure social inequality: inequality of conditions, and inequality of opportunities. Inequality of conditions refers to the unequal distribution of income, wealth, and material goods. Housing, for example, is an inequality of conditions with the homeless and housing projects sitting at the bottom of the hierarchy while those living in multi-million dollar mansions sit at the top. Inequality of opportunities refers to the unequal distribution of life chances across individuals. This is reflected in measures such as level of education, health status, and treatment by the criminal justice system. For example, studies have shown that college and university professors are more likely to ignore emails from women and people of 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.

5. Causes of social inequality There is little question that many people in the U.S. are better off than most other people in the world. That being said, poverty also impacts millions of people in the U.S. Why do such social inequalities exist? Let's examine the two prevailing explanations of poverty: blaming the poor and blaming society.

6. Blame the poor One approach to explain poverty is to blame the poor - that the poor are responsible for their own poverty. There is some evidence to support this theory, because the main reason people are poor is the lack of employment. According to this view, society has plenty of opportunities for people to realize the American dream, and people are poor because they lack the motivation, skills, or schooling to find work.

7. Blame the society Another approach to explain poverty is to blame society - that society is responsible for poverty. While it is true that unemployment is a main contributor to poverty, the reasons people don't work are more in line with this approach. Loss of jobs in the inner city is a major contributor to poverty. There simply isn't enough work to support families.

8. Effects of social inequality; Social inequality affects nearly every dimension of our lives. For example, did you know that children from poor families are three times more likely to die from disease, accidents, neglect, or violence during the first year of life than those children born to wealthy families? In addition, on average, wealthy people live five years longer than those less fortunate.

9. Politics also follows class lines. Because the wealthy benefit from the way society is organized, their wealth tends to encourage them to be more conservative on economic issues, but more liberal on social issues. The opposite pattern seems to be true for people from poor backgrounds. They tend to be more conservative on social issues, but more liberal on economic issues, tending to favor government-sponsored social programs that benefit them. Finally, social class also impacts family life. Lower class families tend to be larger than middle class families; lower class families tend to marry younger and use less birth control. Another relevant pattern is that children from lower class families tend to be raised to conform to conventional values and respect authority. Children from middle and upper class families are taught to express their individuality and imagination more freely.

10. Two Main Theories of Social Inequality There are two main views of social inequality within sociology. One view aligns with the functionalist theory and the other aligns with conflict theory. 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, world views, norms, and expectations--through a process known as cultural hegemony .

11. How Sociologists Study Social Inequality Sociologically, we can study social inequality as a social problem that encompasses three dimensions: structural conditions, ideological supports, and social reforms. Structural conditions include things that can be objectively measured and that contribute to social inequality. Sociologists study how things like educational attainment, wealth, poverty, occupations, and power lead to the social inequality between individuals and groups of people.

12. Ideological supports include ideas and assumptions that support the social inequality present in a society. Sociologists examine how things such as formals laws, public policies, and dominant values both lead to social inequality, and help sustain it. For example, consider this discussion of the role that words and the ideas attached to them play in this process . 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 affects. Today, social media plays a large role in social reform campaigns,