Social inequality is a concept that arises from a society having different hierarchies of gender, race, class, and age. These types of organizations define how people get access to resources, opportunities, and rights. It states that the distribution of such aspects is often unequal in any kind of setting. Inequality manifests in a wide range of examples such as judicial systems, wealth, income, health, and education. It has been described to go along with the concept of social stratification. There must be a setting, such as a community or organization, through which inequality manifests. Various sociologists have tried to describe the reasons behind the recurrence of inequalities despite communities and social groups lobbying for equal rights for all people. By applying strands from the class module, the paper tends to discuss various ways inequalities are made to stick. As such, it focuses on ‘connecting lives’ and ‘ordering lives’ as the main sources of discussion and evidence.
Inequality and Its Sources
Every social group or community is characterized by different classes, positions, and status. It is not possible for all human beings to be equal or similar. According to Karl Marx’s theory of conflict and modern society, there are two types of people. These are the proletariat and bourgeoisie classes (Breen and Rottman, 2014). He describes the bourgeoisie as the owners of all means of production and the proletariat as the workers. The bourgeoisie owns the equipment, factories, and businesses that can produce wealth. This relates to the idea that there are different rewards for people based on their status within a society. As such, a society is observed to have recurrent and structured patterns. These patterns depict unequal distribution of opportunities, punishments, rewards, and goods. However, such differences depend on the type of society. Smith (2010) describes societies as organized groups of people that share common interests or are defined by a similar characteristic.
Equality solely depends on the setting. Racism is a good example where it is approached as a phenomenon whereby people are discriminated across racial lines. In this case, social status becomes an insignificant factor. Whether rich or poor, people from a specific ethic group may face the same type of discrimination. Identity is a key concept that should be highlighted when stipulating the real origin of inequality. According to Allen (2014), social lives are characterized by the desire to have a personal identity. The identity in this case is defined as how a society perceives someone and one’s personal sense of self. In the United States, for example, self-identity has brought about segregation and division. There is a majority and a minority group, which has made people aware of how to manipulate the system to access better resources. From the video on ‘connecting lives’, people of the lower classes are made to believe that what they get is what they deserve. As such, they get a false consciousness and a wrong sense of social identity (The Open University, 2018).
Allen (2014) describes two approaches that can be applied to measure inequality within a social context. These are opportunities and conditions. Based on conditions, inequality arises from unequal distribution of income, goods, and wealth. For example, housing as an inequality defines the homeless and those living in modern structures. Another example to describe this type of inequality is at the level of communities. In this case, some can be described as poor, plagued by natural calamities, and violence. Governments, businesses, and organizations heavily invest on the remaining groups. As such, they have opportunities to thrive, feel secure, and grow economically (Smith, 2010). On the other hand, inequalities of opportunities are described as unequal distribution of available chances across people. Such are seen in the level of education, law treatments, judicial system, and access to health care. As such, there are certain instances where a privileged group of people in the society access better educational facilities and resources, which amount to better performances.
Community, institutional, and individual levels of discrimination are some of the major sources of social inequalities. For example, it’s common for women to be rewarded less than men for the same type of work. Additionally, sociologists have described that racism has been integrated into the society and is prevalent in the existing social institutions. Social inequality can be demonstrated by using two key theories; the conflict theory and the functionalist theory (Smith, 2010). The functionalist theory highlights that inequality is essential in the society as it determines how to achieve certain social status. As such, human beings are subjected to commitments and hard work to get better rewards. This is further illustrated in ‘ordering lives’ strand where government structures have subjected people to fight for equality and equal treatments. Social stratification in this case leads to reward based on merit and ability (The Open University, 2018).
The conflict theory describes inequality as a situation where powerful groups dominate those with less power. In this case, inequality leads to less progress for the powerless as those who are more powerful tend to limit their success through status quo. Based on the ‘connecting lives’ concept, social and economic system’s domination has led to group failure (The Open University, 2018). Such domination is due to ideology, which is demonstrated through beliefs, thoughts, norms, actions, and expectations.
How Inequalities Stick
Authority is described as the capability to issue rules and orders that should be followed by a society (The Open University, 2018). This has been one major reason why inequality continues to reign within the society. Such rules subject people to situations that do not fit them. As such, they are unable to pursue their goals and opportunities presented to them in the society. Another aspect is when a judicial system continues to favour a specific group in the society due to class, race, and social status. When such a situation occurs, organizations and individuals continue dwelling in their social cocoon in fear of being subjected to strict rules. Inequality tends to be a vicious circle especially when concentrating on economic aspects. This is because the gap between the poor and the rich continues to widen. The rich have access to resources, which they are able to invest and get more returns while the poor continue to live in poverty.
Although government policies can either improve the social welfare of people, in most cases they lead to prevailing social inequality. This is due to unequal distribution of resources and access to infrastructure and housing. The government can place strategies in place that only favour the privileged in the society. This can be illustrated by the housing system in the United Kingdom (Allen, 2014). The elite groups get better and more flexible housing mortgages as compared to the low-income societies that rely on projects that lack most social amenities. In doing this, such communities will identify themselves with such a setting until they accept it’s what they deserve. Another major factor that contributes to the prevalence of social inequalities is lack of awareness among the under-privileged in the society. In this case, they fail to access important resources that may uplift their social status.
The situation of minority groups in most developed countries continues to worsen over time due to strict civil policies. A good example is the case of black Americans where systems have tried to apply anti-discrimination policies within the institutions and communities. The civil rights legislation has made it harder for minorities as they cannot access better education, health care, and employment. This leads to socio-economic inequality that has become difficult to eradicate through affirmative actions. Another major factor is stereotyping where minority groups are believed to be engaged in bad behaviour in the society. This renders then vulnerable to the judicial systems where most of them are convicted of crimes that they have not committed (The Open University, 2018). In an urban setting, the minority groups are most vulnerable to a sudden economic restructuring. In this case, they fail to grab the emerging opportunities due to fear and respect of the judicial system. The minority groups are believed to be less skilled and thus can only access low income opportunities. Some communities possess the belief that they are meritocracies. This means that resources and opportunities are distributed based on merit. According to Allen’s (2014) order of lives, there are social dysfunctions that arise within societies.
Conclusion
Social inequalities exist in every type of community and society due to differences in race, age, status, and class. Over time, social groups that have gained a specific type of identify and self-awareness define such differences. Inequalities have been made socially, culturally, and economically. Although they are all different, they have a close link connection based on social groups and defining characteristics. Equality of opportunity is described to be more important than that of the final outcome. It is not possible to achieve equality in the society as some people will always access better services than others. In this case, the elites in the community believe they are more successful based on merit. Those who are more educated believe they deserve better opportunities, higher income, and first class treatments. Inequality can thus be described as inevitable as not everyone has the same capabilities that can lead to merit.
Reference List
Allen, J. (2014) ‘Supermarket power: winners and losers’, in Blakeley, G. and Allen, J. (eds) Understanding Social Lives, Part 1, Milton Keynes, The Open University.
Breen, R. and Rottman, D.B., 2014. Class Stratification: Comparative Perspectives. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
Smith, A.D., 2010. The Concept of Social Change (Routledge Revivals): A Critique of the Functionalist Theory of Social Change. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
The Open University (2018) ‘Activity 24.3a’, DD102 Introducing the Social Sciences. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=443766§ion=8 (Accessed 22nd August, 2018).
The Open University (2018) ‘Portland road: class and segregation’ [Video] DD102 Introducing the social sciences. Available at: https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=796335§ion=3 (Accessed 22nd August, 2018).
