Social Inequalities Within New Zealand Essay

The saying "everyone is born equal; some people are more equal than others" rings painfully true. Even in countries with laws in place to guarantee equality, individuals and sometimes, whole groups of people fall through the cracks. Gender, income, physical (dis)ability, ethnicity, and race are among the most notable issues that can affect a person's status in a society. In some countries, there is no pretense about being "born equal," for inequality is built into the very fabric of the society. These are the most glaring cases: countries that do not even buy into the premise of the statement, "everyone is born equal." In countries like Australia, everyone is theoretically born equal. Social norms have evolved to foster values of social justice and equity. Still, genuine equality remains a dream or outright myth. Among the groups most frequently discriminated against in Australia, women and the indigenous are perhaps the most systematically excluded from access to social capital, cultural capital, financial capital, and attendant forms of power and influence.

The axis of inequality that will be focused throughout this paper is the social class. Social class is defined as a group of individuals who are categorized according to class (i.e. poor, middle, and upper) due to their income, wealth, power, and occupation. Social class is socially constructed by the way we view how much income and wealth a person possess (Ore, 20011a, 10). In reality it is much more than that. According to the text, poverty is not only the shortage of income, but it is the rejection of opportunities and choices that leads a person to a standard way of living (Ore, 2011a, 10). Stereotyping also contributes to it being socially constructed. These stereotypes influence us by defining who is who based on their principles in each class category. This can cause some to feel worthless.

In this task there will be a discussion on the impact of social inequalities in society. I will explain how the different social groups’ including religion, ethnicity, age and gender can benefit the society but also face difficulties in terms of health and well being.

Social inequality stems from many facets of life and mindsets reproduced continuously in America. The main backbone of systematic inequality is formed off of race, gender and class, which all contain crucial aspects that further oppress those subjected to inequality in various aspects of life. The resources-schools, occupations, invested parents- around one fuels the opportunity in their lives, a concept highlighted by Malcom Gladwell, in his book, Outliers. Situations one are brought up in or uncontrollable genetic aspects can very easily restrain their opportunities. Racial discrimination, gender roles and inferiority and the lack of fluidity in the low and working class push inequality, which simultaneously influencing the rich and privileged.

This essay question asks to discuss some of the ways in which differences and inequalities persist over time. Thus demonstrating that they are not fixed, but forever changing, being caused in diverse ways by society. The essay will first define ‘Inequality’ and ‘Differences’. It will then use two strands, ‘Making Lives’ and ‘Ordering Lives’ to discuss how they persist and will look at some differences and inequalities within, wealth, homelessness, law, and class. Concluding the whole world is effected by continuing inequalities and differences, which is only getting worse.

“1]. How does social inequality impact people of different nationalities [ethnicities & races], classes, and genders in society.”

The 21-st century is characterized by the continuous economic downfall. The relationship between race, class and gender should be evaluated to identify the life chances of people to improve their relative position in our socially stratified world. The increased rates of unemployment, homelessness and poverty show that our society requires implementing a transformative approach to reduce social stratification. The term social stratification is applied to identify and asses different forms of inequality that exist in the US society. Patricia H Collins suggests, “while a piece of the oppressor may be planted deep within each of us, we each have the choice of accepting that piece or challenging it as part of the 'true focus of revolutionary change'” (p. 680). Inequality has become a universal feature of our society; therefore, it exists everywhere and concerns race, class, and gender as the key categories of society.

Social and economic inequalities exist in the UK particularly because of discrimination and prejudices resulting in unequal society lacking cohesion and unity. In 2008, a comprehensive analysis to critically analyze and asses the level of social and economic inequality was conducted in the UK, by Professor John Hills who chaired the National Equality Panel created by the government to provide in-depth analysis on the subject.

Inequalities exist an all aspects of life. The nature and result of such inequalities shapes our social as well as economic lives. As people progress through their educational life certain inequalities will result in different outcomes of schooling for different sets of people. “In post war Britain pupils from a working class background are constantly found to gain fewer academic qualifications, to be under represented in institutions of higher education and to end up in jobs offering little opportunity for social advancement'; (Brown 1987 p11). It is inequalities such as these that are present both in and out of school that will determine life chances of individuals. It is commonly accepted that education is the main

IncomeSocio-economic status (SES) is an expression that differentiate between Humans position in society (Ariani and Chafournia, 2015). This can be described through terms of family income, education, and were someone works (Ariani and Chafournia, 2015). SES is frequently reported by social classes or groups categorized and labeled (Ariani and Chafournia, 2015). Social classes are divided between five branches know as low class, lower class, lower middle class, middle class, upper middle class, and upper class (Ariani and Chafournia, 2015). All societies that are unequal; Human in them try to stand out from the classes lower than them mostly known as the superior (Loughnan et al. 2011). People under the age of 25 that live with parents view their income from what mother and father bring in (James and Lubarsky, 2008). These individual perceive their peers and others to be in certain classes based on appearance, speech and body language (James and Lubarsky, 2008). Whites control a big share of valued resources that are used in everyday life by everyone (Wodtke, 2012). Income inequality is most commonly measured around the world by the Gini Coefficicient, where 0 corresponds to perfect equality and 1 means perfect inequality (Okioga, 2013). Poverty and low economic status allows for people to make poor choose such as premarital sex (Mauyo et al. 2012). EducationEducation sway on racial attitude is endlessly communicated about on an enormous level (Wodtke, 2012). The viewpoint

In briefly evaluating the classical and modern explanations of social inequality, it is essential that we step outside the realm of our own lives, class position, and discard any assumptions we might have about the nature of inequality. This process of critical pedagogy allows us to view our world, not from our perspective, but from a wider, more critical analysis of inequality's nature. Also, it should be considered within this wider perspective that all theories of inequality have a class perspective, where the theorist, based on the position their theory takes, is making claims from (or for) a particular class (whether they want to or not). With this in mind, it seems that most of these theories come

New Zealanders, we have a problem. We suffer from something called tall poppy syndrome; where we repress those who exceed us - cutting down the poppies that grow taller towards the light. The reason that we do this, while also for reassurance of ego and uniformity of persona, is for equality. Inequality is a predominant negative to our modern world and is particularly present amongst things like financial status, sexual orientation, gender and race. For New Zealand, racial inequality and the oppression of indigenous, Maori people and their culture has been one of the most enduring problems it has faced since it was first settled by European colonists in the 18th century. The Maori were subjected to the theft of land, imprisonment, persecution and exploitation at the hands of the early settlers. One of the ripple effects of this oppression was a severe lack of education, leading to a dulled appreciation of the benefits a full and formal education can provide. Tall poppy syndrome is evident throughout humankind’s long history of cultural, religious and political disputes. New Zealand, unfortunately, is no exception.

Inequality in New Zealand 's society is an ongoing issue in the present, prior to the 1980s, New Zealand was one of the most equal countries in the world but in the two decades from the mid-1980s onwards, the division between the rich and the underprivileged increased faster than anywhere else in the world. Inequality is both a relatively modern concept, and one which has existed for as long as humankind have been on earth, whether it’s Gender inequality, Racial and ethnic inequality, Age inequality, Inequalities in health or inequalities in economic growth a certain degree of inequality is needed in society, but high levels of inequality can cause a flawed social society, common poverty, increases in crime and other social affliction. In this report I will talk about the high income inequality in New zealand 's household. If people are dissatisfied because of the high levels of income inequality their motivation to participate in the democratic process could considerably decrease because they may feel that the well-off could control and manipulate any changes that occur in the future. In 2010 in United States people became disaffected with because of the high levels of income inequality, which caused a major protest mostly because of social and economic inequality, greed, corruption and the perceived undue influence of corporations on government. This was known as the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2010. This is just a possibility if New Zealand 's high level of inequality

New Zealand is seen as a pure, untarnished country from a distant perspective but, there are a huge number of families in New Zealand that are struggling to get by with barely any help from the government. This is the outcome of many decades of structural inequality that has impacted generations of children that turn to the same life as their parents, creating a cycle of poverty. Structural inequality can be loosely described as “denot[ing] methodical and often subtle processes through which social structures disadvantage and harm certain groups of people” (Hodgetts,2014). The ‘under-class’ people of New

Inequality between societies within New Zealand. The facts of how the societies in New Zealand, has been affected or can be affect the factors including; biological, educational, family, social and political. Difference of inequality occurs in societies, how it has been treated the societies unequal in many ways. The characteristics affected or can affect the societies to inequality from five factors within poor health, obesity, lifestyles, communities, belief, government promises not honoured. Income inequality has been a crisis to New Zealanders in the last few years, and it has grown fast which affected a large number of people in New Zealand. According to UMR, (2013) online survey, it shows a high number of fifty percentage New Zealanders, are very concerned for the growing inequality in New Zealand.