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Inequality In Brave New World

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In the dystopian novel, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. There was an experiment where Alphas, or the smartest people in that society were all put on the same island. What occurred was a civil war broke out because the Alphas were not satisfied with what position they were assigned to. Likewise, the world that is produced today has a social class similar to “alphas, betas, gammas, deltas, and epsilons”. Modern society has created layers of class where one status quo is considered more successful than others by occupation, fame, and wealth. The world does not offer everyone the same opportunity to achieve the level of success, this is known as social inequality. Social inequality is defined by the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards …show more content…

Equality is defined as “any given circumstances, where people who are the same in those respects relevant to how they are treated in those circumstances should receive the same treatment. Equity on the other hand is defined as dealing with “differences and takes into consideration the fact that this society has many groups in it who have not always been given equal treatment and/or have not had a level field on which to play”. A case in 2004 from “Ethical Leadership in Higher Education Admission: Equality vs. Equity” serves to differentiate equality and equity. Juan and Courtney had applied for a merit-based scholarship and had come from a competitive high school, were in the top 10% of their graduating class, initiated organizations and held officer positions in clubs. Academically, there was only one key difference, Juan’s ACT composite score was four points lower than Courtney’s ACT composite score. Just from this information alone, Courtney should narrowly win. However, Juan was Hispanic and was coming from a single-parent home, and Courtney had both parents working. This now became a case of equality versus equity. On the equality side, Juan and Courtney were both individuals who applied to the scholarship in hopes of obtaining it. Because both individuals have are the same relevantly, they should be scored the same and therefore Courtney should win. On the equity side, Juan was born into a more difficulty socioeconomic status and differences should be taken into account and therefore Juan should win. However, from this example before this specific instance, due to increasingly higher ACT scores from incoming freshman, students with color had a greater denied admission. This example provides the difference between equality and equity. Equality essentially means sameness and promotes fairness but is only

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