As theorized by American sociologist, Wright Mills, sociological imaginations entails thinking yourself out of the box, in deeper terms it necessitates one to think away from familiar routines of everyday life, looking at situations from an entirely new perspective. Understanding and exercising sociological imagination helps us understand the relationship between the individual and the society. This discourse emulating Mills seeks to make a distinction between personal troubles and public issues. Using sociological imagination write-up examines how gaps in income and wealth may lead in inequities in life chances or to broader health and social problems.
Social-economic inequity
Disparities in income and wealth in the public sphere is commonplace in the 20th
Century America. The problem of inequality has been framed in both scholarship and public discourse, in this regard sociological imagination invokes deeper questions as, ‘why are socioeconomic conditions, health outcomes and the distribution of political power so unequal?’. Further ‘what are the outcomes of social inequity in the society’? To begin with, unequal distribution opportunities that include wealth, access to power and life chances that facilitate the attainment of desirable outcomes contribute directly to unequal distribution of life outcomes such as desirable health, happiness, educational success and material possession. The income disparity in the United States is alarming, 1% of the population earns an estimated 22% of all income in America.
A host of social, material, historical as well as political conditions has produced this distributional of income inequality. Given the evidence of unequal distribution of life chances, power and resources, there exists substantial racial/ ethnic, gender and national origins disparities in material resources, labour market opportunities and educational outcomes. Likewise, the socio-economic status of one’s parent is strongly predictive of one’s own material well-being, earnings, educational achievements and health. For example, because of high levels of racial and socio-economic segregation, most Black and Latino’s grow up in poor neighbourhood. Statistics affirm that more than 70% of black children who grew up in poor neighbour hoods remain there as adults compared to 40% of white kids. Further the racial disparities in the neighbourhood also leads to disparities in the availability of local resources such as schools, parks and health care institutions.
Health Inequity
Secondly, let’s consider the health domain, evidence presented affirm that there is a negative coloration between wealth and income disparities and health outcomes patterned among groups. Health and wealth have always been related, low income earners, the less educated (education is also dependent on income distribution) and people of colour are much worse off than their educated and economically advantaged individuals on various measures of physical health. Long standing historical injustices against people of colour makes them the most vulnerable to health inequality. Data from a survey conducted in 2012, affirms that children from poor families are twice less likely to receive preventive medical and dental care as children in families earning 400 percent more than the Federal Poverty Level. In general, low income and less educated individuals are substantially at a higher risk for most diseases. Many more studies affirm the concave relationship between income and health outcomes
In conclusion, this discourse emulating Wright Mills sought to make a distinction between personal troubles and public issues particularly; how gaps in income and wealth may lead in inequities in life chances or to broader health and social problems. The multiple interactive processes of social inequality already threaten social order and cohesion; policy makers have a task in offering interventions that will guard against perpetuating inequality in the American society.
References
Bakke, E. W. (1996). Citizen Without Work; A study of the effects of Unemployment upon the worker's social relations and practices.
New York: Archon Books.
Marino, G. (2010). Ethics: The Esential Writings. Chicago: Modern Library.
