The Importance Of Equality In Society

Social inequality is a problematic phenomenon that occurs all around the world and affects both the developed and developing nations. It is defined as “the unequal distribution of social, political and economic resources within a social collective” (van Krieken et al. 2013, p. 205). Inequality is closely connected with social stratification, a system of social hierarchy that positions individuals and groups into categories according to social variables such as class or ethnicity (van Krieken et al. 2013, p. 485). This stratification has a significant impact on the opportunity that an individual may have to move up the hierarchy of inequality (Gill 2017a).

Slavery (the ownership of another human as one’s own property) is one of the oldest traditions in human history. History shows that ancient Rome and Greece valued their wealth upon the number of slaves an individual owned. Their service was to provide slave labor for their owners. As time progressed, slavery began to evolve into something much different– especially in the North American colonies. A new nation was emerging, fueled by a drive for expansion and a growing economy. The United States exploited African Americans through racial slavery to fill the labor shortage and created a system that stripped them of their basic rights, dignity, and created social barriers to ensure their subservience to Southern society.

The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology defines inequality as ‘the unequal distribution of opportunities, rewards, and power among and between individuals, households and groups’(1). It goes on to say that ‘the subfield of social stratification has as its main task the description and analysis of inequalities, or the makeup of the stratification system of any given society’.(1) From this one definition, we can already begin to see the strong links that lie between inequalities and social stratification. As we delve deeper into the topics, we can begin to see both the inevitability and the functionality of stratification

The struggle against a totalitarian government is unsurprisingly a frequent theme in dystopian literature. Almost by definition the genre is set in a futuristic society characterized by extreme oppression and despondence. Malevolent autocrats at the helms of totalitarian governments have, throughout our history, been responsible for innumerable travesties. This young century alone has witnessed the evil of Bashar al-Assad, Omar Bashir, and Saddam Hussein. Probing only slightly deeper into our collective memory, we are acquainted with the reigns of Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Mao Zedong, Josef Stalin, Hideki Tojo, Francisco Franco, and (of course) Adolf Hitler. The last hundred years have undeniably been bloody, and it is therefore only natural that

Social inequality can practically be made apparent at any moment of someone’s life – whether at work or school amongst peers or simply watching the news in the morning. According to Dalton Conley, social inequality is narrowly defined as “a condition in which a difference in wealth, power, prestige, or status based on nonnatural conventions exist” (2017 p.241). Moreover, social inequality is a process whereby society can determine how a class of people is expected to coexist within predetermined social, political, and economic boundaries. The affected class will live within the predefined constraints, and the affected class will then pass the predefined constraints on to future generations. It is imperative to understand that social inequality is a result of social stratification, which according to

Slavery had been an existing factor, on a worldly scale, since before 1400. Before 1400, slavery had existed in the classical times of Europe. It has been, what most would consider a problem, for years, dating all the way to the modern days. Although not as evident today, slavery and segregation amongst diverse ethnic groups has been a consistent secular issue in today’s world. In order for slavery to exist, it was crucial for slaveholders to exercise their power of the captured slaves to use and control their newfound property.

Gradually, over the seventeenth century, laws were passed to institutionalize the practice, usually by articulating divisions between blacks and whites. By keeping the two racial groups socially apart, lawmakers were able to firmly put slavery into place. In 1640, Virginia gave everyone the right to bear arms except “negroes”, as it was too risky to arm slaves (Williams, 26). The same year, the court in Virginia outlined the ways in which black people were to be treated. In one example, where three indentured servants escaped together from their master, two of which who were white (Victor and Gregory) and the other black (Punch), Punch received a much harsher punishment of being locked into servitude while Victor and Gregory were only given four extra years of service. The court made it clear that this harsher sentence was given to Punch simply because he was black (Williams, 27). Later in 1662, Virginia passed a law making slavery hereditary and declaring that the status passed through the mother (Williams, 28). So a child of a white man and a black woman could be claimed a slave by the owner of the mother, however a child of a black man and a white woman would immediately be free. It’s important to note that interracial sex in and of itself was looked down upon and made illegal. It was considered a “dishonor of God” and the colony disapproved of interracial

It is often said that in our society we have such a thing as equality, but is it actually there?, or has it become a myth. Discrimination happens everyday, anywhere at anytime. It comes from the lowest class to the highest class. People that judge you based on your looks, race, even the way you talk, dress or walk. They are everywhere and people are not treated equally

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.

Individuals in today’s society are separated by many different factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, and economic status. Another form of separation is that of stratification. There are four major systems of stratification slavery, caste, estate, and class. “Social stratification means the differentiation of a given population into hierarchically superposed classes.”(Sorokin, 1964, p. 11) Stratification can either be in the form of an open or closed system. The closed system is one that allows minimal to no movement within the system. The open system is just the opposite it allows for varying degrees of movement throughout the system. There are many ways to break down the social stratification of

Most countries strive for freedom and equality, but If you were asked a question of would you rather equality or freedom which one would you choose? From a quick glance both of them looks like they have their own ups and downs equality everyone would be equal and freedom everyone has rights and freedoms but is it all cut and dry with equality? Is it truly possible to have absolute equality, and if so why don’t we remember an instance what it happened. When you go down and look at the difference of equality and freedom it goes down to 2 different Capitalism allowing everyone in the market to have the freedom of what they do and socialism making everyone equal to one another. True equality is an unjust, ineffective, fragile way of running the government that will ultimately lead to it destruction if it hold to its ideal of equality.

Society has always been built on a construct of gender roles. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors thrived in a society in which men lived in the social realm and the women dominated the domestic sphere. While men hunted far away from the community women stayed close by to collect the nearby resources. This was the necessary way of life to keep the small communities and family units thriving. Discrimination did not play a part in these roles, it was just the best way for a community to thrive. However, as time progressed, biases did arise. The masculine role of going to war and taking part in physically dangerous activities like hunting began to be seen as superior, and thus, men were seen as superior. Though the last few centuries have seen great improvement in gender equality, there is still room to improve. This holds true in some countries far more than others. A possible way to measure gender equality is by observing the percent of women in top legislative positions. This will be the dependent variable. Two possible variables that could affect this percentage is the country’s regime type and the country’s level of economic wealth.

We have shifted into an age of acceptance, diversity and equality. However we don’t all agree the best way to become equal. Many believe we should all be the same to be equal, some believe we should be boosted to all have the same outcome, but in that they are giving different chances. This is a long standing debate and it will take a society coming together and agreeing to fix these issues. Whether or not we have the answer these ideas were explored by cell phone manufacturers in recent years. With their two advertisements, they both share themes of acceptance and diversity, however they have different ways of coming to that conclusion.

one of the most important and complicated dilemmas of human philosophy: how do we choose

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.