Social inequality Overview.
Inequality in society is not to be confused with poverty in society. Whilst they
are linked they are not the same thing. Inequality is about how one group of
people are more disadvantaged compared to another. Max Weber coined the
term ‘life chances’ to refer to how some groups do not have the same
opportunities as others.
WHO IS DISADVANTAGED AND THEREFORE SUFFERING AS A
CONSEQUENCE OF INEQUALITY?
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Gender – There are differences between males and females
Ethnicity – There are differences between ethnic groups
Social Class – People of different social classes have different life
chances
Age – People of different ages are treated differently
Wealth – Some people have more wealth and therefore more life
chances (this is linked to the groups above namely, gender,
ethnicity, social class and age).
IN WHAT AREAS OF LIFE ARE THESE GROUPS UNEQUAL?
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Education – e.g girls or Chinese pupils do better.
Crime – e.g males are more vulnerable to criminality
Workplace – e.g average pay of women is 20% lower than men’s
Politics – e.gOnly 20% of MPs are female and very few are not white.
Health – e.g working-class people suffer with more health problems
Wealth – e.g women, ethnic minorities and disabled are more often
poor. (The issue of wealth inequality cuts across all of it as it is
also in the category above ‘Who is disadvantaged..’
HOW CAN WE EXPLAIN THESE INEQUALITIES?
TRADITIONAL THEORY (Social class and Wealth)
 Functionalism – Inequality is universal in all societies so it must be
functional and inevitable. Society is Meritocratic.
 New Right – Linked to Functionalism. Society is meritocratic so if
people are poor it is because they do not deserve wealth. Over
generous welfare payments will lead to an underclass dependent of
benefits.
CRITICAL THEORY (Social class and Wealth)
 Marxism – Inequality is caused by capitalism and greed. Inequality
benefits the ruling-class as it enables Bourgeoisie to exploit Proletariat.
The poor are a reserve army of labour, divide and rule means no
revolution and scapegoating means poor can be blamed for slumps in
capitalist economy.
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Neo Marxism – Focus on how the middle-class become advantaged
over the working-class through media, education etc. E.g Pierre
Bourdieu and ‘Cultural capital’, Goldthorpe and ‘Elite Self Recruitment’
CRITICAL THEORIES( Gender, Ethnicity, Social Class and Wealth )
 Feminism – Focus of inequality should be gender. Radical Feministspatriarchy serves to oppress women in private and public spheres.
Marxist Feminists say capitalism disadvantages women more than men
and it suits ruling class to have women in supporting unpaid domestic
roles or in supporting paid work, nurses, secretaries. Women are a
reserve army of labour keeping wages low. Liberal Feminists say there
have been many positive changes for women and Catherine Hakim’s
preference theory says many women ‘choose’ to stay at home with the
kids.
 Weberian – Weber believes in Verstehen, Interpretivist methods. Says
inequality is much more complex than Karl Marx said as there are
differences ‘within’ social classes in terms of people’s individual status,
class and power (party). E.g A gay doctor may be middle-class but
have low status in society. Weber sees Middle classes as in a
contradictory position, they can be a part of ruling-class ideology but
still exploited. Barron and Norris are Weberian influenced and
theorised Dual-Labour market theory of primary and secondary sector
cutting across working and middle-classes.
 Post-Modernism – Class is dead and an irrelevant concept, post
modern society is based on uncertainty, diversity and risk. Identities
are fluid and more based on consumerism. Ulrich Beck , Risk Society,
no matter what class, gender etc we are all subject to similar risks e.g
global warming, bird flu, cancer.
EXPLANATIONS OF POVERTY
 Cultural explanations of poverty – basically New Right arguments
Murray, Marsland and Saunders. Welfare causes underclass
 Structural explanations of poverty – basically Marxist and Weberian
ideas, reserve army, divided workforce, welfare failure to distribute
fairly
EXPLANATIONS OF ETHNIC INEQUALITY
 Overt and covert racism, Institutional racism, Barker ‘New Racism’, in
house recruitment leading to few opportunities for ethnic minorities.
 Marxist – Westergaard and Resler – distraction from main issue of
class (ethnic minorities are mainly working-class
 Marxist – Divide and rule – ethnic divisions prevent revolution
 Marxist – Reserve Army of labour- Ethnic minorities available for cheap
labour keeps main wages low.
 Marxist – Scapegoating, Ethnic minorities blamed for slumps in
economy leading to disadvantage.
 Neo-Marxist – Lack of Social and Cultural capital (Pierre Bourdieu)
 Weberian – Dual labour market theory Barron and Norris, Ethnic
minorities are often in secondary sector (Rex and Tomlinson)
 New Right, welfare state dependency - Black underclass (Saunders)
WHY ARE WE CONCERNED ABOUT INEQUALITY ANYWAY?
COMTEMPORARY CHANGES. (Use to get extra marks for including
contemporary debates)
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Wilkinson and Pickett, The Spirit Level – Book detailing cross-cultural
study detailing how more unequal countries suffer more social
problems
Communities become divided – Bradford riots
People begin to complain – recent protests against government cuts,
tuition fee etc.
People get a conscience – recent credit crunch JRF found people
concerned.
Productivity and progress slows as people do not feel rewarded for
hard work. People are absent from work sick due to stress or apathy
Has proletarianisation taken place? Alienation, deskilling in recent
years, lack of manufacturing jobs in UK, we are all robots with no
autonomy, ‘would you like fries with that?’, Ofsted inspections !! Has
embourgeoisiement taken place? Are we all content with capitalism
and striving for the ‘American Dream’ OR are people becoming more
working-class in their attitudes?
Social Inequality section of the exam
There is a choice of 2 questions. Whichever one you choose you MUST
answer part a) and b) from the same question as they will be linked, not part
a) from one and part b) from another !!
Part a) 20 Marks – 30 minutes
Identify two areas of life where there are inequalities in .............. (could be any
of gender, ethnicity, social class, age or wealth). For each area identified
provide two pieces of evidence to show that the inequality is significant. (20
marks)
Can you ...?
 Identify two areas of life e.g education, crime, workplace, health,
politics or wealth, for each of the groupsi.e gender, ethnicity, social
class, age or wealth.
 Discuss two pieces of evidence for each of the areas (that’s 4 pieces of
evidence per essay).
 Elaborate on these points by: Using researcher’s names and/or statistics,
 Say what the evidence suggests about the inequality,
 OR evaluate the piece of evidence.
Note Wealth is a bit different because it cuts across both the dimensions of
inequality i.e gender, ethnicity etc AND the ‘areas of life’ e.g education, crime.
Part B) 30 Marks – 40 Minutes
Critically asses ..............(Could be any of the explanations mentioned above
including feminism and ones on ethnicity) explanations of inequality (30
marks)
Can you....?
 Make at least four points describing the theories with examples or
research or writers.
 Identify at least two strengths and two weaknesses of the
theory/perspective so you can ‘critically assess’ (AO2s)
 Compare and contrast to another perspective (AO2s)
 Link the ideas to the inequalities noted in part a) or to contemporary
debates.
Revision Guide for Part a) on Social Inequality. Tick the Box on the
right when you can elaborate on the points using names or
statistics and provide some analysis or evaluation of the evidence.
Inequality
GenderArea 1
Evidence 1
Evidence 2
Gender Area 2
Evidence 1
Evidence 2
Ethnicity Area 1
Evidence 1
Evidence 2
Ethnicity Area 2
Points you want to make and
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evidence
Workplace
Equal Opportunities Commission –
Women are paid less for same
performance in same jobs and do jobs
which are less well paid (Vertical and
Horizontal segregation)
Equal Opportunities Commission –
There have been 67,000 sex
discrimination tribunals in 10 years
Crime
Police recorded Crime shows 87% of
offenders are male – Chivalry?
Police recorded Crime says there are
more male victims but what about
BCS and hidden female victims
Workplace
Census data says more BME are in
low paid jobs especially black,
Pakistani and Bangladeshi.
Joseph RowntreeFoundation despite often having higher
qualification BME are still on low pay.
Education
X
Evidence 1
Evidence 2
Social Class Area 1
Evidence 1
Evidence 2
Social Class Area 2
Evidence 1
Evidence 2
Age Area 1
Evidence 1
Evidence 2
Age Area 2
Evidence 1
Evidence 2
Dept of Education statistics show
Indian and Chinese do well whilst
black and Pakistani do not
Lee Harvey (2008) BME are less likely
to get 1st class honours due to
financial issues like having to work
Education
Bynner and Joshi (2002) links
between class and attainment still
going strong. 85% of students from
professional background achieve 5
GCSEs compared to only 35% of
students from unskilled/manual
background.
Boliver (2006) only 35% of applicants
to Russell Group Unis are from
working class background
Crime
Macguire – working class are overrepresented in Prison
Willott and Griffin (1999) prisoners
claim crimes are to support their
families suggesting poverty is to blame
Workplace
2009 Office of National Statistics say
14% of 18-24 yr olds are unemployed
and 26% of 16-17 yr olds compared to
6% nationally
ZmiraHornste for JRF says
discrimination of over 50s has become
implicit due to employment laws
Wealth
Burholt and Windle – Older people are
most vulnerable to poverty as they
cannot change their situation
Bardassi for JRF (2002) unemployed
over 50 are highly vulnerable as are
women who are divorced/widowed as
they do not have own pension. Women
give up work to raise children or look
after elderly relatives.
Keywords For Social Inequality
Absolute poverty
Exploitation
Gini Index
Government definitions of poverty
Relative poverty
Social exclusion
Ageism
Disability
Material deprivation
Persistent poverty
Recurrent poverty
Social mobility
Transient poverty
Consensus
Hierarchy
Market liberalism
New Right
Organic analogy
State dependent
Stratification
Trickle-down theory
Underclass
Underclass theory
Bourgeoisie
Conflict view of society
Hegemony
Ideological state apparatus
Marxism
Oligarchy
Proletariat
Radical
Repressive state apparatus
Socialism
Targeted benefits
Welfare state
Black feminism
Critical theories (without capital letters)
Critical Theory
Liberal feminism
Male stream
Marxist feminism
Radical feminism
Third Way
Feminised
Gender bias
Gender equality
Gender neutral policies
Gender pay gap
Male chauvinism
Misogyny
Sexism
Sexual discrimination
BME - Black Minority Ethnicity
Emigration
Ethnicity bias
Hate crime
Immigration
Institutional racism
Racism
Recorded crime
Refugees
Reported crime
Stop and search (SUS)
Xenophobia
Affluent worker
Class indicator
Deference
Deskilling
Embourgeoisement thesis
Life chances
National Minimum Wage
NS-SEC
Professional people
Registrar General's Index of Social
Class
Stratification system
Underclass
Elite self-recruitment
Fat cat
Globalisation
Income tax
Less economically developed
nations of the world (LED)
Multinational
Polarisation
Targeted benefit
Tax haven
Unheard groups
Universal benefit
Some of the sociologists you should know for Social Inequality.
Name
Ideas
Seebohm Rowntree
Peter Townsend
Durkheim
Absolute poverty
relative poverty
His theories became the basis of functionalism.
Functionalists say that society is based on shared norms
and value consensus. Inequality is functional and
inevitable, society is meritocratic.
Stratification is universal and necessary
Davis and Moore
(1945)
Charles Murray
David Saunders
Antonio Gramsci
Louis Althusser
Erik Olin Wright
Braverman
Goldthorpe (1980)
Glass (1954)
Underclass Theories
Consumption Cleavage
These writers both claim that in the UK, benefit systems
mean that people make a rational choice to stay poor,
because it is easier to stay at home on the dole than go
to work.
Used the term hegemony to describe a culture in which
the values of the ruling class become the common sense
ideas of a whole culture.
He identified institutions such as the family, the media,
the education system and religion as being part of the
Ideological State Apparatus.
Managers and supervisors have factors in common with
the bourgeoisie since they are responsible for controlling
the workforce, yet they are subject to exploitation.
Both found evidence of what they described as 'elite selfrecruitment' whereby privileged and powerful positions go
to children of wealthy and powerful people.
Nick Clegg recently commented on inequality in
internships !
Supports/Opposes
Supports Functionalism
Supports Functionalism
Functionalism, as it is
New Right and focuses on
sub-culture of the poor.
Supports Marxism
Supports Marxism
Supports Neo-Marxism
and Weberian views
Supports Marxism
Wilkinson and Pickett
(2009).
Book entitled The Spirit Level underlines the terrible
impact of inequality on a society
Opposes Functionalist
ideas
David Mason
Institutional racism is a term used in 5 ways to describe
deliberate discrimination, consequence of state policy,
unintentional ethnocentric policies, minority groups in
low-status work and political opportunism.
Black women experience inequalities of gender and race.
Mothers encourage their daughter's education,
particularly among the African Caribbean community as it
is a route to social mobility.
Neo-Marxist views
Bob Connell
Claimed that the differences between male and female
psychology and biology are very over-stated. Individual
differences are far more significant than whole gender
differences.
Feminism
Grimshaw and Rubery
(EOC 2007)
Women tend to be paid less than men for the same
performance in the same job and the jobs that they do
Feminism
Heidi Safia Mirza
Black Feminism
tend to attract lower wages than men's jobs.
Catherine Hakim
Preference Theory - Has asked for gender neutral
policies to be put in place. Individuals make personal life
choices and only 25% of women choose to live careerdriven lives.
Different subject choices made by boys and girls may be
more marked and have greater longer-term outcomes in
terms of subsequent career choices than attainment
differences.
Liberal Feminism
Women have more to lose than men if they deviate from
the norms of society. Women are controlled in all aspects
of their lives which prevents them from committing
crimes.
Gender role socialisation is responsible for gender
inequality and the idea that it reproduces sexual divisions
of labour. Working women are double-burdened with
work and domestic chores.
Feminism and Control
Theory
Max Weber
Interpretivism and Verstehen. He saw stratification in
terms of the relationship between
Class, Status and Party.
Weberian views
Lyotard
Post-modern societies have few community links, people
have no sense of identity within society and there is no
sense that one should keep and treasure things like old
buildings or furniture forever. Everything is short term and
disunited.
30-30-40 Thesis. He says our society can now be seen to
consist of: 30% unemployed, low paid, insecure work;
30% with some job security and quality of life; 40% privileged workers in secure and regular employment.
Sees the middle classes as divided into two groups. The
higher professions such as judges, accountants, lawyers,
doctors have the potential for high earnings. These
people tend to control entry into their occupations. The
lower professions are often, feminised and work in the
public sector. e.g teachers, nurses, and social workers.
Superclass is linked financially to the City of London, a
male and upper class world that has many links with the
traditions and heritage of public school and Oxbridge
elites of the past.
Working class culture of ‘lads’ at school leading to
working class jobs.
Studied influence of class on higher education choices
and found that middle-class students had more
confidence to apply for prestigious universities.
Researched black masculinities in school and found
home life and lack of father figure among many important
factor in school failure.
Older people who become poor remain poor and can do
little about the position that they find themselves in. They
Post Modernism
Department for
Education and Skills,
(2007)
Heidensohn (2002)
Anne Oakley
Will Hutton (1995)
C Wright Mills (1956)
Adonis and Pollard
(1998)
Paul Willis (1977)
Learning to Labour.
Reay et al (2005)
Sewell 1997,
Burholt and Windle, for
Joseph Rowntree
Feminism
Feminism
Opposes Functionalism
and New Right
Marxism and ideas of elite
self-recruitment.
Marxism
Neo-Marxist
Opposes functionalist
view of meritocracy
Opposes view that
schools are institutionally
racist.
Opposes New Right
Foundation (2006)
suffer multiple deprivations as they are vulnerable to
loneliness and disability.