Lecture 13 1SGY141 Social Inequality

Learning Unit 2: Social
Inequality
Introduction and Theories
• 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 manifest 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.
• Social inequality goes hand in hand with social stratification
Social stratification the hierarchical division of society into layers
= these layers may be based on class, race, gender, ethnicity, age, sexual
orientation, nationality, migrant status, occupation, political position etc.
Social stratification leads to SOCIAL INEQUALITY

= the unequal distribution of society’s resources and opportunities
(income, wealth, prestige, power, education, housing, jobs etc.) based on
people’s position in the social stratification systems, and leads to differences
in standards of living
Therefore: influences the likelihood of specific groups of people to
experience particular social problems
• Social inequality is characterized by the existence of unequal
opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses
within a group or society.
• It contains structured and recurrent patterns of unequal distributions of
goods, wealth, opportunities, rewards, and punishments.
• E.g. Racism is understood to be a phenomenon whereby access to
rights and resources is unfairly distributed across racial lines.
• 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
those living in housing projects sitting at the bottom of the hierarchy while
those living in multi-million-rand mansions sit at the top.
• Another example is at the level of whole communities, where some are
poor, unstable, and plagued by violence, while others are invested in by
business and government so that they thrive and provide safe, secure, and
happy conditions for their inhabitants.
• 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.
• Discrimination at individual, community, and institutional levels is a
major part of the process of reproducing social inequalities of race,
class, gender, and sexuality.
• E.g. women are systematically paid less than men for doing the same
work, and sociologists have conclusively demonstrated that racism is
built into the very foundation of our society and is present in all of our
social institutions.
Two Theories of Social Inequality
• There are two main views of social inequality within sociology.
• functionalist theory and the conflict theory.
• Functionalist theorists believe that inequality is unescapable and
desirable and plays an important role 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.
• a society governed by people selected according to merit.
• 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, worldviews, norms, and
expectations--through a process known as cultural hegemony.
• Cultural hegemony refers to domination or rule maintained through
ideological or cultural means. It is usually achieved through social
institutions, which allow those in power to strongly influence the values,
norms, ideas, expectations, worldview, and behavior of the rest of society.
How do we as sociologist 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
• 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.
• 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 effects.

Lecture 13 1SGY141 Social Inequality

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lecture 13 1SGY141 Social Inequality

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lecture 13 1SGY141 Social Inequality

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Learning Unit 2: Social

Social stratification leads to SOCIAL INEQUALITY

You might also like