Inequality of people in society examples. Why does society have social inequality

Even a superficial look at the people around us gives reason to talk about their dissimilarity. People are different by gender, age, temperament, height, hair color, intelligence level and many other features. Nature endowed one with musical abilities, the other with strength, the third with beauty, and prepared for someone the fate of a weak invalid. Differences between people, due to their physiological and mental characteristics, are called natural.

Natural differences are far from harmless, they can become the basis for the emergence of unequal relationships between individuals. The strong force the weak, the cunning triumph over the simpletons. Inequality resulting from natural differences is the first form of inequality, in one form or another manifested in some species of animals. However, in human main is social inequality, inextricably linked with social differences, social differentiation.

Social those are called differences, which generated by social factors: lifestyle (urban and rural population), division of labor (manual and manual workers), social roles (father, doctor, politician), etc., which leads to differences in the degree of ownership of property, income, power, achievement , prestige, education.

The different levels of social development are basis for social inequality, the emergence of rich and poor, the stratification of society, its stratification (a stratum layer that includes people with the same income, power, education, prestige).

Income- the amount of cash receipts received by a person per unit of time. It may be labor, or it may be the possession of property that “works”.

Education- a complex of knowledge obtained in educational institutions. Its level is measured by the number of years of study. Let's say, incomplete secondary school - 9 years. The professor has more than 20 years of education behind him.

Power- the ability to impose your will on other people, regardless of their desire. It is measured by the number of people to whom it applies.

Prestige- this is an assessment of the position of the individual in society, prevailing in public opinion.

Causes of social inequality

Can a society exist without social inequality? Apparently, in order to answer the question posed, it is necessary to understand the reasons that give rise to the unequal position of people in society. In sociology, there is no single universal explanation for this phenomenon. Various scientific and methodological schools and trends interpret it differently. We single out the most interesting and noteworthy approaches.

Functionalism explains inequality based on the differentiation of social functions performed by different layers, classes, communities. The functioning and development of society is possible only thanks to the division of labor, when each social group carries out the solution of the corresponding vital tasks for the entire integrity: some are engaged in the production of material goods, others create spiritual values, others manage, etc. For the normal functioning of society an optimal combination of all types of human activity is necessary. Some of them are more important, others less. So, on the basis of the hierarchy of social functions, a corresponding hierarchy of classes, layers is formed performing them. Those who carry out the general leadership and administration of the country are invariably placed at the top of the social ladder, for only they can support and ensure the unity of society, create the necessary conditions for the successful performance of other functions.

The explanation of social inequality by the principle of functional utility is fraught with a serious danger of a subjectivist interpretation. Indeed, why is this or that function considered as more significant, if society as an integral organism cannot exist without functional diversity. This approach does not allow explaining such realities as the recognition of an individual as belonging to the highest stratum in the absence of his direct participation in management. That is why T. Parsons, considering the social hierarchy as a necessary factor that ensures the viability of the social system, links its configuration with the system of dominant values in society. In his understanding, the location of social strata on the hierarchical ladder is determined by the ideas that have formed in society about the significance of each of them.

Observations of the actions and behavior of specific individuals gave impetus to the development status explanation of social inequality. Each person, occupying a certain place in society, acquires his own status. is an inequality of status, resulting both from the ability of individuals to perform a particular social role (for example, to be competent to manage, to have the appropriate knowledge and skills to be a doctor, lawyer, etc.), and from the opportunities that allow a person to achieve one or another position in society (ownership of property, capital, origin, belonging to influential political forces).

Consider economic view to the problem. In accordance with this point of view, the root cause of social inequality lies in the unequal attitude to property, the distribution of material wealth. most brightly this approach appeared in Marxism. According to his version, the emergence of private property led to the social stratification of society, the formation antagonistic classes. The exaggeration of the role of private property in the social stratification of society led Marx and his followers to the conclusion that it is possible to eliminate social inequality by establishing public ownership of the means of production.

The lack of a unified approach to explaining the origins of social inequality is due to the fact that it is always perceived at least at two levels. First, as a property of society. Written history knows no societies without social inequality. The struggle of people, parties, groups, classes is a struggle for the possession of greater social opportunities, advantages and privileges. If inequality is an inherent property of society, then it carries a positive functional load. Society reproduces inequality because it needs it as a source of life support and development.

Secondly, inequality always perceived as unequal relations between people, groups. Therefore, it becomes natural to seek to find the origins of this unequal position in the peculiarities of a person's position in society: in the possession of property, power, in the personal qualities of individuals. This approach is now widely used.

Inequality has many faces and manifests itself in various parts of a single social organism: in the family, in an institution, at an enterprise, in small and large social groups. It is necessary condition organization of social life. Parents, having an advantage in experience, skills, and financial resources in comparison with their young children, have the opportunity to influence the latter, facilitating their socialization. The functioning of any enterprise is carried out on the basis of the division of labor into managerial and subordinate-executive. The appearance of a leader in the team helps to unite it, turn it into a stable education, but at the same time it is accompanied by the provision leader of special rights.

Any, organization strive to save inequalities seeing in it ordering beginning, without which it is impossible reproduction of social ties and integration of the new. The same property belongs to society as a whole.

Ideas about social stratification

All societies known to history were organized in such a way that some social groups always had a privileged position over others, which was expressed in an unequal distribution of social benefits and powers. In other words, social inequality is inherent in all societies without exception. Even the ancient philosopher Plato argued that any city, no matter how small it may be, is actually divided into two halves - one for the poor, the other for the rich, and they are at enmity with each other.

Therefore, one of the basic concepts of modern sociology is "social stratification" (from Latin stratum - layer + facio - I do). Thus, the Italian economist and sociologist V. Pareto believed that social stratification, changing in form, existed in all societies. At the same time, as the famous sociologist of the XX century believed. P. Sorokin, in any society, at any time, there is a struggle between the forces of stratification and the forces of leveling.

The concept of "stratification" came to sociology from geology, where they denote the location of the Earth's layers along a vertical line.

Under social stratification we will understand the vertical cut of the location of individuals and groups in horizontal layers (strata) according to such characteristics as income inequality, access to education, the amount of power and influence, and professional prestige.

In Russian, the analogue of this recognized concept is social stratification.

The basis of stratification is social differentiation - the process of emergence of functionally specialized institutions and division of labor. A highly developed society is characterized by a complex and differentiated structure, a diverse and rich status-role system. At the same time, some social statuses and roles are inevitably preferable and more productive for individuals, as a result of which they are more prestigious and desirable for them, and some are considered by the majority as somewhat humiliating, associated with a lack of social prestige and a low standard of living in general. It does not follow from this that all statuses that have arisen as a product of social differentiation are arranged in a hierarchical order; some of them, such as age, do not contain grounds for social inequality. Thus, the status of a young child and the status of a nursing infant are not unequal, they are simply different.

Inequality between people exists in every society. This is quite natural and logical, given that people differ in their abilities, interests, life preferences, value orientations, etc. In every society, there are poor and rich, educated and uneducated, enterprising and unenterprising, those in power and those without it. In this regard, the problem of the origin of social inequality, attitudes towards it and ways to eliminate it has always aroused increased interest, not only among thinkers and politicians, but also among ordinary people who consider social inequality as an injustice.

In the history of social thought, the inequality of people was explained in different ways: by the initial inequality of souls, divine providence, imperfection of human nature, functional necessity by analogy with the body.

German economist K. Marx linked social inequality with the emergence of private property and the struggle of interests of various classes and social groups.

German sociologist R. Dahrendorf also believed that the economic and status inequality underlying the ongoing conflict of groups and classes and the struggle for the redistribution of power and status is formed as a result of the market mechanism for regulating supply and demand.

Russian-American sociologist P. Sorokin explained the inevitability of social inequality by the following factors: internal biopsychic differences of people; the environment (natural and social), which objectively puts individuals in an unequal position; the joint collective life of individuals, which requires the organization of relations and behavior, which leads to the stratification of society into the ruled and the managers.

American sociologist T. Pearson explained the existence of social inequality in every society by the presence of a hierarchical system of values. For example, in American society, success in business and career is considered the main social value, therefore, scientists of technological specialties, plant directors, etc., have a higher status and income, while in Europe the dominant value is “preservation of cultural patterns”, due to what society gives special prestige to humanities intellectuals, clergymen, university professors.

Social inequality, being inevitable and necessary, manifests itself in all societies at all stages of historical development; only the forms and degree of social inequality change historically. Otherwise, individuals would lose the incentive to engage in complex and laborious, dangerous or uninteresting activities, to improve their skills. With the help of inequality in income and prestige, society encourages individuals to engage in necessary, but difficult and unpleasant professions, encourages more educated and talented people, and so on.

The problem of social inequality is one of the most acute and topical in modern Russia. A feature of the social structure of Russian society is a strong social polarization - the division of the population into poor and rich in the absence of a significant middle stratum, which is the basis of an economically stable and developed state. Strong social stratification, characteristic of modern Russian society, reproduces a system of inequality and injustice, in which the opportunities for self-realization in life and raising social status are limited for a fairly large part of the Russian population.

And they have unequal life chances and opportunities to meet their needs.

In its most general form, inequality means that people live in conditions in which they have unequal access to limited resources of material and spiritual consumption.

Fulfilling qualitatively unequal working conditions, satisfying social needs to varying degrees, people sometimes find themselves engaged in economically heterogeneous labor, because such types of labor have a different assessment of their social utility.

The main mechanisms of social inequality are the relations of property, power (domination and subordination), social (i.e., socially fixed and hierarchized) division of labor, as well as uncontrolled, spontaneous social differentiation. These mechanisms are mainly associated with the characteristics of a market economy, with inevitable competition (including in the labor market) and unemployment. Social inequality is perceived and experienced by many people (primarily the unemployed, economic migrants, those who are at or below the poverty line) as a manifestation of injustice. Social inequality, property stratification of society, as a rule, lead to an increase in social tension, especially in the transition period. This is what is characteristic of Russia today.

The main principles of social policy implementation are:

the establishment of socialist power with the subsequent transition to communism and the withering away of the state;
protection of living standards by introducing various forms of compensation for price increases and indexation;
providing assistance to the poorest families;
issuance of assistance in case of unemployment;
ensuring social insurance policies, establishing a minimum wage for workers;
development of education, protection of health, environment mainly at the expense of the state;
pursuing an active policy aimed at ensuring qualifications.

Literature

Shkaratan, Ovsey Irmovich. Sociology of inequality. Theory and reality; National research University "Higher School of Economics". - M.: Ed. house of the Higher School of Economics, 2012. - 526 p. - ISBN 978-5-7598-0913-5

SOCIAL EQUALITY- - a type of social relations, which is characterized by the same rights and freedoms of individuals belonging to different classes, social groups and strata, their equality before the law. Antipode S. r. - social inequality that arose with ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology and Pedagogy

A concept denoting the same social status of people belonging to different social classes and groups. SR idea. as a principle of the organization of society in different historical epochs was understood in different ways. Philosophy of the ancient world, ... ... The latest philosophical dictionary

English inequality, social; German Ungleichheit, soziale; frlpedashe sociale; specific form of social differentiation, with a swarm of individual individuals, social. boundaries, layers, classes are at different levels of the vertical social. hierarchies have unequal... Encyclopedia of Sociology

INEQUALITY, a, cf. 1. Lack of equality (in 1 and 2 values), equality. N. forces. Social n. 2. In mathematics: a relation between quantities showing that one quantity is greater or less than another. Inequality sign (> ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

SOCIAL EQUALITY- a concept denoting the same social status of people belonging to different social classes and groups. The idea of S.R. as a principle of the organization of society in different historical epochs was understood in different ways. Philosophy of the ancient world, ... ... Sociology: Encyclopedia

Liberalism ... Wikipedia

A; cf. 1. Lack of equality in smth. Social, economic n. N. forces. N. before the law. N. women. 2. Math. A ratio between numbers or quantities indicating that one of them is greater or less than the other (indicated by the sign ≠ or ◁, ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

inequality- INEQUALITY, a, cf Social rule, which consists in non-observance of the equal rights of people in society, the equal position of someone, something, lack of equality; Syn.: inequality; Ant.: equality. Economic inequality of regions. Inequality… … Explanatory dictionary of Russian nouns

inequality- A; cf. 1) Lack of equality in smth. Social, economic inequality / venestvo. Unequality / balance of forces. Inequality/equality before the law. Inequality/respect for women. 2) math. A ratio between numbers or quantities indicating that one of them is greater or less than ... ... Dictionary of many expressions

Books

There is social inequality! , Group "Plantel". After reading this book, the old fairy tales about princes and princesses sound and are perceived differently. After all, it is about the economic and social inequality that existed in the past ...

In this statement, I. Sherr raises the problem of the naturalness of social inequality. In other words, the author considers the state of society to be absolutely organic, in which some individuals have wider access to benefits than the rest of the society.

I fully share this thesis. Indeed, society consists of many social strata that are distinguished in the process of social stratification.

There are many criteria for dividing society into layers, but it is necessary to remember, first of all, the four main ones - income, power, education and prestige.

In addition, there are historical types of stratification, many of which have fixed social inequality for centuries. Basically, there are four of them. The first type - the slave system - is characterized by the fact that a certain part of society (slaves) was a "thing" of other people. The second type - the caste system - was based on religious principles and traditions and fixed hereditary affiliation to a caste without any opportunity to use the social elevator (curry in the war, marry a representative of a higher caste). The next type - the estate system - had the coercive apparatus of state power as a support, fixing the legal status of a particular estate in official documents. This type allowed in exceptional cases to "increase" the privilege of one's status.

Fortunately, social progress has led us to an open system of stratification - class. In this system, individuals were able to move freely to another social stratum. The basis of the division between classes is the form and size of a person's income. Therefore, they distinguish the class of proletarians (wage workers who receive wages) and the bourgeoisie (the class of entrepreneurs who make a profit, including from the exploitation of wage labor). As we can see, even in open stratification systems, social inequality is observed: individuals who put a lot of effort into working with social lifts (education, career, service) are higher on the social ladder than less active members of society. It should be mentioned that the intensity and speed of social mobility in modern societies is much higher than in the historical types described above.

Examples of social inequality can be easily found in classical literature. For example, in Jack London's novel Martin Eden, the protagonist makes a long social journey from a poor sailor to a rich writer, helping his impoverished friends to increase their income along the way. Having obtained a "ticket to high society", the hero realizes that rich people are not always complacent and people who are poor in prosperity were much more kind to him. This is also a kind of "stratification according to morality", but it is already outside the scope of the course of social science.

Sometimes social inequality reaches threatening scales for society. The newspaper "Russian Reporter" recently published an analytical article about the country of Zimbabwe, showing depressing economic performance. It is worth noting that this country has withdrawn the national currency from circulation. The high level of corruption and crime allows officials and some businessmen to receive fabulous incomes, while more than half of the people are officially unemployed. This example shows us that even the natural state of society, manifested in inequality, needs to be controlled so that society does not turn into chaos.

Thus, the problem of the naturalness of social inequality is relevant to this day, having a scientific and factual justification. And I hope that society will be "unequal" where necessary!

Updated: 2017-07-10

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Social inequality is a consequence of the uneven access of members of society to spiritual and material resources, which leads to the stratification of this and the formation of a vertical hierarchy. People at different levels of the hierarchy have unequal life chances in realizing their aspirations and needs. Any society is structured in one way or another: according to national, geographical, gender, demographic or other characteristics. However, social inequality has a completely unique

nature. Its main source is the development of civilization itself, existing in the form of society.

Causes of social inequality

Every society in human history has been characterized by the specialization of its members. This fact alone gives rise to social inequality in the long term, since sooner or later specialization leads to a difference between more and less demanded forms of activity. Thus, in the most primitive societies, shaman healers and warriors had the highest status. Usually the best of them became the heads of the tribe or people. At the same time, such differentiation does not yet imply the obligatory accompaniment of material goods. In a primitive society, social inequality is not at all the result of material stratification, since trade relations themselves did not yet matter. However, the fundamental reason remains the same - specialization. In modern society, in a privileged position are, for example, people who

creating a cultural product - film actors, television presenters, professional athletes and others.

Inequality criteria

As we have already seen in the example of primitive societies, social inequality can be expressed not only in material conditions. And history knows many such examples. So, for medieval Europe, an extremely important factor in social status was pedigree. Only one noble origin determined a high status in society, regardless of wealth. At the same time, the countries of the East hardly knew such a class-hierarchical model. All subjects of the state - viziers and peasants - were the same slaves in the face of the sovereign, whose status came from the simple fact of power. Sociologist Max Weber identified three possible criteria for inequality:

Thus, the difference in income, social respect and honor, as well as the number of subordinates, depending on the value orientations of society, can affect the final social status of a person in different ways.

Social inequality coefficient

Over the past two hundred years, there have been disputes among economists and sociologists about the degree of stratification in a particular society. Thus, according to Vilfredo Pareto, the ratio of the poor to the rich is a constant value. In contrast, the teaching of Marxism testifies that there is a constant increase in social differentiation - the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer. However, the practical experience of the twentieth century has shown that if such increasing stratification does occur, it makes society unstable and ultimately leads to social upheaval.

And the development of our planet in the global sense of the word? Interesting thoughts on this subject were expressed by a well-known physicist from the UK, Mr. Stephen Hawking. In his opinion, the most dangerous time period for our entire planet has now come. In his publication, which was recently published in the popular The Guardian, the scientist drew public attention to the ever-growing gap between social elites, including prominent politicians, financiers and ordinary people. This generalized term refers to the working and so-called middle class. The ubiquitous robotization reinforces the lack of practical need for human resources. Ordinary people are no longer so important to the elites to increase their profits. This leads to internal contradiction and potential conflict between different social groups in our society. The Internet and technological tools that speed up processes social inequality allow a small group of people to extract super profits, creating a minimum of real jobs. On the one hand, this is a natural progress, which has always been considered positive. However, the fact that it is socially destructive in its essence is undeniable.

Increasing number of poor people

Let's try to figure this out together. Let us analyze practical examples of how the common people's rejection of the trends in the modern structure of world society is already clearly manifesting itself. Take at least as a basis the results of the last presidential elections in the United States of America. This country can be considered a good example, because. Western "democrats" popularize this model and often aggressively impose it on other peoples. But is everything all right there? The discussed results of the presidential elections actually surprised the American elites. They really have something to think about. Why did Trump win? Let's leave aside the explanations of the "democrats" that he left on jokes and racism. As statistics show, his victory was ensured by precisely those regions in which the working and middle class predominate, and which, accordingly, feel the most inequality in society. If you look at American financial statistics, over the past five decades, the average wage has increased by only $1. It went from $19 to $20 an hour. In other words, taking into account inflationary processes, the overall growth in labor productivity and widespread technological effectiveness did nothing to increase the wealth of the middle class. Moreover, since the 21st century, another trend has become more pronounced: the number of poor US citizens has increased significantly and the middle class has decreased in number. The number of those who have an income of more than $100,000 per year and were previously considered a slightly above average class has also become much smaller. Against this background, there was a reduction in American jobs. They "emigrated" to Southeast Asia, Mexico, South America. At the same time, for example, immigration from Mexico still increased. This only intensified the real competition in the intra-American market for vacancies for workers and employees.

America is one of the most corrupt countries

Further more. The financial crisis of 2008 exacerbated the negative picture in society. But, first of all, it was not banks and financial tycoons who suffered, but ordinary people. Some of them were left without houses, because. unable to make mortgage payments. The American elites bailed out the multinationals and banks, but they did so at the expense of the taxpayers. However, few thought about the latter. It is noteworthy that in 2010 the US Supreme Court made a little-known decision with the name Citizens United. Briefly speaking, it established the updated rules of the political game in the American "democratic" state. What was it expressed in? Banks and large corporations were given the opportunity to participate with an unlimited number of banknotes in US election campaigns at all levels. American elites love to criticize third countries for corruption. However, in America itself, for more than 5 years, real corruption has been completely legalized. Long gone are the days when politicians who raised funds for their fair campaign through infusions of voters ended up defending their interests later. Today they are forced to serve rich "donors", without whose money there would be no victories. A similar picture is observed in the island of Great Britain. There are specific features of the British, but in general, Brexit can also be considered clear evidence of social inequality and that the populace is not satisfied with the current state of affairs.

Social discontent will grow

Considering that socio-economic and political problems, briefly analyzed on the example of the United States and Britain, can automatically spread to most other countries of the world, it becomes clear that the alienation between politicians, financial and industrial magnates and the people is growing more and more every year, which means that discontent in society will also grow. Thus, the reflections of the British physicist are absolutely logical and more relevant than ever for our time. The eternal question remains: what to do. There is no single answer. So far, there is only an understanding that the world is on the verge of change. Barriers must be removed, not created, both within countries and at the interstate level. And remember about eternal values, understanding that capital and resources should serve everyone, not the chosen ones.

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