Inequality By Jared Diamond

We live in a society that is very unequal, in a way that people get treated differently depending on their social class, race or gender. Social inequality means the situation in which individual groups in a society do not have equal social status, social class or social circle. Clear boundaries in society are made that prevents

Jared Diamond’s first quest to find the roots of inequalities began on the island of Papua New Guinea. There, in 1974, Yali, a man who lived there asked Jared Diamond a seemingly simple question: “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo, but we black people had little cargo of our own?” To Diamond that seemingly simple question turned into a rigorous process of finding where inequality began. It was from that question, that Diamond developed inquires of his own to find the roots of inequality. Jared Diamond knew that it was not an issue about genetics for he knew too many extremely smart New Guineans. Nor was it about are adaptive, engineers, and quick learners. It made him wonder why the New Guineans weren’t the ones to end up with what he calls the agents of conquest. Which would be: guns, germs and steel. To explore the reasons why the Europeans were more successful, Diamond realized he had to start from scratch. To a time of equality, where people everyone lived the same way.

inequality, in the sense that not all people are equal and they should not be equal.

Inequality is still common in the world today. Some suggest that inequality is a result of some people being biologically inferior to others. Jared Diamond challenges this by taking specifically about what gave the Spanish an advantage over the Incas.

Inequality is the condition of being unequal; lack of equality; disparity. This is the definition of inequality to show that people were not equal. In the definition it states “lack of equality” which this world has for men and women, blacks or whites and any other race. Slavery started for people to do their dirty

Inequality is defined as ‘‘The unequal distribution of valued social resources within society or between societies’ (Blakeley & Staples, (2014 ) p13, 25). Thus it is the

Inequality is ubiquity in our world, most people are looking at the downside or the surface of this phenomenon. In fact, that inequality is the drive of historical and social progress.

What is Income Inequality? Well “Income Inequality is the unequal distribution” of family or individual wage over the different individuals in an economy. Income inequality is often showen up “as the percentage of income to a percentage of population” (Staff.) Income inequality creates and impacts the U.S. in different aspects, whether it is distinguished by “region, gender, education and social status” (Staff), as well as there are certain causes and potential solutions to resolve the problems that Income Inequality creates.

In early societies, the surplus of goods and resources was rather limited compared to today. This limitation of goods is what kept the societies from being influenced by inequality. In the United States today, goods and resources are not necessarily limited. In today’s world, goods are being manufactured that are not necessarily essential for survival. This allows for certain individuals to gain resources and power, while others get nothing, thus creating the issue of inequality.

In an economy, income inequality means the unequal distribution of household or individual income over many participants. It is also often presented as a percentage of income for a given percentage of the population. Most people associated income inequality with the concept of income fairness. Assuming that the rich have a larger share of the income of a country than the population in general, then they acknowledge it unfair. What causes the income inequality might be vary? It could be region, education, sex as well as social status. Income is the amount of money you earn from your job or investment. However, wealth is the amount you own, such as car, home, retirement amount, saving accounts, and so on. Even though, we are not living in the

Social inequality is defined as the unequal distribution of social and economical resources. There are unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions and statuses within a group or society. Because there is social inequality, people have less life chances meaning less educational and occupational opportunities, which prevents movement on the social ladder. This gives authority to the rich because the rich own the means of production, giving capitalists the power to exercise it by exploiting the poor working class. An individual interest and not that of a community drive the rich. Such differences degrade and stigmatize the social class with less money and opportunities causing social stratification.

Inequality is something that is created the second an organism is born, be they human, animal or otherwise. This is in agreement with Rousseau’s main theory in his Essay “Discourse On Inequality” He states that one of these inequalities is “natural or physical” (45) and I would completely agree with his distinction and believe that these advantages allow some to perform in life better than others and thus create inequality between individuals. However, Rousseau’s other form of inequality which he claims is “moral or political inequality” does not exist on its own, it is an extension of natural inequality. This is because of the basic principle that the strong have the ability to prey on the weak. In short there is only one form of inequality and it is driven by natural occurrences in people and all other inequality springs from these abilities.

Inequality in the society has been an issue since the history of the universe and as we think we are bridging the gap between the rich and the poor we always find out that it is as a wide as it was. The poor will always exist in the society as the inferior group while the rich are the superiors who control various aspects and sectors of the society.

When the resources in a society are distributed unevenly it leads to social inequality. Often inequality is understood as being socio-economic and it is now closely associated with social inequality. “Social inequalities are differences in income, resources, power and status within and between societies. Such inequalities are maintained by those in powerful positions via institutions and social processes.” (Warwick-Booth, 2013 p.2)

Society holds many structures that mould human performance and produce opportunities for some, but inequalities for others (Morrall, 2009). These structures in society are organized by the hierarchies of class, ethnicity and gender (Crossman, 2016). Due to having a society based on hierarchies, social inequalities are inevitable. Social inequality refers to the ways in which a group or individual of a certain social position may receive unequal opportunities or distribution of ‘goods’ such as education, income, living conditions and healthcare (Walker, 2009). These unequal opportunities may be given to someone because of their ethnicity, gender, income, religion or social class (Walker, 2009). For example, people in a high social class will be able to pay for their children to go to a good private school for a good education, whereas lower-class or working class people will struggle to afford the same education.