Inequality in Society: Conflict and Functionalism Theories Essay,Social Inequality Essay
WebFeb 2, · Social Inequality Essay Topic Ideas & Examples �� Best Social Inequality Topic Ideas & Essay Examples. It is the duty of the tutor to craft a lecture-room WebSocial inequality is defined as the set of unequal opportunities for different social classes or statuses for various individuals within a group or society. It usually refers to people of WebJan 5, · Social inequality describes the extent of the differences between various groups in the society (Sernau, ). In many societies worldwide, differences among WebMay 1, · This review examines the inequalities within the society based on the caste. The definitions of the social inequalities and caste, factors which produces the WebJan 28, · Social inequality has been happening for decades and still continues to be a significant problem. According to Dr. Charles Walker, “Social inequality is the ways in ... read more
Life chances describe the opportunities that individuals can access to improve the quality of their lives Aldridge, The differences among life qualities are apparent in a variety of indicators such as physical health, levels of wealth and income, and the accessibility of employment opportunities Aldridge, Thus, the absence of poverty and availability of various social support services are some of the determinants of life chances. Recent studies have demonstrated that the youth in Erdington, Birmingham have three times higher chances of encountering unemployment than the young people in South Kensington, London Jones, Policymakers, government organizations, and youth workers should note the ineffectiveness of current systems in addressing inequality issues.
Suitable approaches to improving life chances may include the development and implementation of government programs aimed at encouraging self-employment Jones, Developing countries report higher levels of social inequality, particularly gender disparity, than developed countries Jayachandran, Among the developed nations, however, broad inequality gaps have been reported in the UK The Equality Trust, n. In the country, social stratification is primarily associated with gender, class, and ethnicity Aldridge, Social class refers to the socioeconomic status influenced by the economic inequality among groups. Primarily, it is affected by aspects such as material possessions and employment opportunities.
Gender stratification, on the other hand, results from the existence of differences in masculine and feminine social aspects Little, In the UK, for instance, particular behaviors, occupations, and emotions are considered masculine whereas others are regarded as feminine Aldridge, In ethnic stratification, the term ethnicity refers to the cultural characteristics of different groups Sernau, The UK has numerous ethnic groups, but the majority group is White. Hence, the ethnic minority groups often suffer more disadvantages than the Whites in the population. For example, current studies show that the unemployment rate for nonwhites in the UK is several times higher than the frequency among whites Chalabi, Different social scientists have employed various theoretical perspectives to explain and analyze social stratification Crompton, ; American Sociological Association, n.
Karl Marx, for instance, founded his conflict hypothesis on the view that the modern society comprises only two categories of people: the proletariat and bourgeoisie classes Livesey, n. The bourgeoisie possesses tools of production such as businesses, factories, and equipment, which are crucial to the generation of affluence. The proletariat, however, are the laborers involved in wealth creation. Marx argued that the bourgeoisie exploited the workers in capitalist societies. As a result, the proletariat would unite in a worldwide revolution and eventually own the production means. As such, they achieved the financial stability that Marx believed was impossible. Additionally, the workers received protection from labor laws and unions, instead of experiencing augmented exploitation.
Eventually, tradespeople and skilled workers began earning wages that were equivalent to their middle-class colleagues Livesey, n. He pointed out that wealth, prestige, and power were the primary determinants of social class Livesey, n. For example, people can run companies without owning them and still gain benefits such as increased profits. However, the ownership of property can also bring prestige because people often hold wealthy individuals in high esteem. Other sources of prestige, especially intellectual and athletic abilities, can allow individuals to acquire property.
Thus, Weber argued that prestige and wealth were intertwined Livesey, n. Typically, wealthy people appear more influential than poor persons. Issues of gender can be understood through three key sociological viewpoints: conflict hypothesis, functionalism, and symbolic interactionism. Functionalists perceive inequality in gender roles as beneficent for societies Little, Conflict theorists, however, assert that division of labor based on gender is not necessarily useful to the society because it is maintained by the individuals in power.
Thus, the hypothesis views gender inequalities as processes of finding power and dominance Little, Symbolic interactionists associate current gender views and social interactions with the development of gender inequalities. For example, men are perceived as being relatively more apt to interrupt women during conversations Little, In conclusion, inequality is a serious issue affecting societies worldwide. Various sociological theories, therefore, have been developed to explicate the phenomena. For example, Weberian and Marxist approaches have been employed to explain the existence of social classes.
Although social inequality levels are relatively higher in developing countries, developed nations also face challenges in addressing gender, class, and ethnic disparities. This study has demonstrated that among the developed countries, the UK has reported extremely high levels of social inequalities and stratification. Hence, policy makers and youth workers should implement appropriate programs aimed at increasing self-employment opportunities and minimizing the inequalities in life chances. Aldridge, S. American Sociological Association, n. College—level sociology curriculum for introduction to sociology. BBC, n.
Social inequality in the UK. Chalabi, M. Rising unemployment for UK's ethnic minorities: who's affected? The Guardian, [online] 8 Jan. Crompton, R. Class and stratification. Cambridge: Polity. Desai, S. and Dubey, A. Caste in 21st century India: Competing narratives. Economic and Political Weekly, 46 11 , pp. Giddens, A. and Sutton, W. Chapter summary for chapter 12 stratification and social class. Global Report on Forced Labour In Asia: debt bondage, trafficking and state-imposed forced labour. The roots of gender inequality in developing countries. Annual Review of Economics, 7. Jones, A. New research reveals 'huge inequalities' in life chances. The Independent, [online] 18 July. Kendall, D. Sociology in our times: The essentials 10th ed.
Boston: Cengage Learning. Le Roux, A. South African Journal of Education, 34 2. Little, W. Chapter Gender, sex, and sexuality. Livesey, C. Social equality theories: Marxism. Social equality theories: Weber. Savage, M. A new model of social class? Sociology, 47 2 , Sernau, S. Social inequality in a global age. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. The Equality Trust, n. No matter the level of human development, inequality seems to be existent. It is even present in simple cultures where there is minimal variation in wealth. Some individuals in such cultures may have privilege because of their prowess in certain skills such as hunting, medicine or access to ancestral power. In modern societies, inequality manifests in social and economic classes, power, income, access to health facilities, academic, gender and other forms.
Social economical classes are the most common in most societies and have attracted attention from many sociologists. Many societies try to address the class issue but with little success. Even socialist and communist governments that try to eliminate social economic classes fail to achieve equality. In Canada today, inequality is evident in various forms. Social economic classes, income variation, health, academic, ethnic, gender and other forms of inequality are obvious in the country. Inequality, also referred to as social stratification, has been a core subject to sociologists for many years Macionis and Linda Sociologists try to understand, explain and prescribe solutions to the issue of inequality.
Despite of major sociologists such as Max Weber, Karl Marx and others trying to prescribe solution to inequality, the issue continues to persist. Marx was critical of capitalism and accused it of existence of social classes. On the other hand, Weber agreed with Marx that economic interests led to social classes but viewed social stratification in terms of class, prestige and power. There are mainly two schools of thought to the issue of inequality: conflict and functional theories. To understand why inequality exists, it is helpful to review the divergent positions presented by the two theories and try to come up with a reconciling position. Conflict and functionalism theories are the main theories trying to provide answers to why inequality exists in the society.
The two theories take fundamentally different approaches to explain the issue. Functionalism theory views inequality as unavoidable and important to the society while conflict theory considers inequality to result from conflict and coercion in the social system Andersen and Taylor To functionalism sociologists, society is a system of parts with each part having useful contribution to the system. According to the theory, society can be compared to human body where various parts such as lungs, hands, heart, and eyes contribute to functionality of the body as a whole. The way the social system maintains itself is of more interest to functionalist sociologists than specific interactions between the different parts of the system.
To functionalists, inequality is unavoidable and leads to some good to the society. The theory assumes that any pattern in social system has its good purposes. Considering occupations, functionalists justify inequality in rewards by asserting that the rewards reflect the importance of the different occupations to the system. For instance, functionalists would explain the high rewards and respect given to some occupations such as doctors, scientists and judges as compared to other occupations such farming and garbage collections, by saying that the former occupations are more important to the society as a whole.
In addition, they would claim that such occupations require much talent, effort and education. Therefore, the high reward is meant to encourage individuals to take the pain to occupy such important positions. Conflict theory provides the other extreme explanation to inequality in society. Unlike functionalism theory, conflict theory compares society to war. Conflict theory sociologists consider the society to be held together by conflict and coercion among members of the society. According to Ridney , conflict theory likens society to battlefield where members compete for control of limited resources and power.
Unlike functionalists that stratify the society to functional parts that cooperate for the good of the society, conflict theory views society as consisting of competing parts Rigney The theorists, led by Karl Marx, consider social classes to result from blocked opportunities rather than talent and effort. While functionalists justify unequal rewards for different occupations as a way to utilize important talents and abilities, conflict theorists consider stratification in the society to limit utilization of talents from lower class. To conflict theorists, stratification in the society does not have positive contribution to the society. Conflict and functionality theories on inequality shed light into causes of social stratification but do not completely explain the situation.
The society can be viewed both as functional parts and as competing parts. Doctors, lawyers, scientists, carpenters, farmers, garbage collectors, cooks and other occupations are important to the society. As functionalists argue, some occupations such as medicine require more effort and many years of preparation. It is therefore reasonable to reward doctors, judges and other such occupations highly to motivate individuals to occupy them. It is also natural to give respect and honor to individuals with unique and important skills. For instance, if a country has a single neurosurgeon, the surgeon would be valued and respected without asking for it.
However, it should be appreciated that other occupations that are considered less important, such as farming, are vital to sustainability of a society. Functionalism therefore makes sense when the society is considered as a system without deep consideration of individual members of the system. For instance, the theory cannot provide a convincing explanation to why some individual strive for wealth and power, since amassing wealth and power is not always good for the society. Conflict theory provides a more practical explanation to inequality. Competition is a central thing in the society. Individuals compete for scarce resource, recognition, power and prestige Macionis At individual lever, a student chooses an occupation mostly not by its contribution to the society but by reward and prestige that would come with it.
In business, an individual is mostly motivated by the power and prestige that go along with wealth rather than importance of their service to the society. Conflict theory can explain competition in school, business, politics, and other occupation and social stratification that result. Bottom-line to stratified society, in fact, is the human propensity to gain dominion over others. Attaining social equality is a major objective for human right bodies across the globe. However, that objective is not easy to achieve considering various manifestation of inequality in the world. In Canada, despite of various steps taken to ensure equality in various forms, inequality persists.
Social equality implies all people in a society having equal status. At minimum social equality implies equal rights to all individual in a society. The state however is not easy to achieve mostly because of historic inequality that already exist. For instance, although Canadian constitution guarantees equal rights to quality health and education, there is evident inequality in health and education. Individuals in upper social economic classes have resources to access high standard of health services and afford quality education for themselves and for their children. Limited interaction between individuals from different social class makes it hard to achieve equality.
Social Inequality As we prosper through time, inequality is slowly less evident. The people that are failing to realize that there still is inequality, are the fortunate ones. They rise well above the poverty line, and usually live relatively economically sound lives. Social Inequality Essay. The people that are in pursuit of social change, and constantly bring attention to issues of equal rights and privileges, are often the people that do not have them. They are the ones who suffer daily from different levels of inequality. The majority of post-secondary students are considered to be privileged people. This tends to cause an ignorance, or lack of education, towards inequality because most of the students do not experience great levels of inequality.
When our class was given our first quiz, everybody was able to feel a sense of inequality. As the class was divided into the different time groups, every student felt the unequal opportunity. Even the students that were allotted the most time for the quiz were able to at least see the inequality. As different times were announced the less fortunate students began to complain, and the more fortunate ones realized that their once equal peers, were now placed in an unequal situation. Since most of the students do not experience great amounts of inequality, the unequal time distribution shocked them.
Fortunately for myself, I have grown up in an upper-middle class family. Although my parents have always tried to educate me on inequality, I never experienced much of it. During the class exercise I was placed in group three, and was given six minutes to complete my quiz. Although this was almost enough time for me to complete my quiz, I was definitely jealous of the students that were allotted more time. Even though the groups were arranged randomly, I still felt like I was treated unequally to my peers. I felt unequal to both my peers that had more, and less time, than me. The situation made me angry, and I wanted an explanation from the instructor for the unequal situation that was forced upon me.
I felt the injustice because I had a different time to write my quiz than a neighboring peer; who pays the same tuition, and attends the same class as I do. I wanted to know why some of my peers were given more time than I was, thus enabling them to possibly score higher on the quiz. This quiz was the first mark of the course, and was I worried that my first grade was going to be a poor one. When the instructor explained the purpose of the exercise I realized what an excellent point he had proven. He forced us in an unequal situation that was out of our control. It was nothing we could have predicted or done anything about. This unique exercise put me on a new level of stratification that I was not used to.
It made me feel how other people, not only in my society, but worldwide, feel about inequality everyday. The difference was that I was soon given an explanation, and returned to my regular level of stratification. Many people in our society are given no explanation to their forced inequality. Although the classroom exercise does not compare to the real world, it still stirred feelings of rage, helplessness and discouragement. Looking through the window of the unequal situation changed my views on lower groups of society. It made me realize how difficult social mobility can be. I can understand the Davis-Moore thesis, which states that stratification has beneficial consequences. It is easy for people on the higher end of the stratification hierarchy to agree with this because they believe that the harder one works, the more they will achieve, thus promoting production in society.
Individuals at lower ends of the stratification system disagree with that. Their social status prevents them from achieving their best because all of the benefits and advantages are given to those of a higher status. This tends to discourage them, often leaving them feeling helpless. Unfortunately this helplessness tends to be viewed by many higher class people as laziness. What is not realized is that social stratification is a character of society, and not just a reflection on individual differences. Stratification is universal but variable.
It involves beliefs and persists over generations Macionis The lower class often questions the point of its effort into an unforgiving society when the outcome is inevitable. This all ties in with the numerous reasons that cause poverty and homelessness. This ultimately creates a never-ending class system of inequality that so many are trying to dismantle. Class systems are based on individual achievement, which strongly ties in the Davis-Moore Thesis. Unfortunately social mobility is not evenly achieved amongst the levels of stratification.
The higher the level of stratification the easier social mobility tends to be. In the example of the class exercise, the level or stratification can be compared to the time given in each group. The more time the person had, the better chance they had at scoring higher on the quiz. The people who had more time on the quiz can be compared to individuals at higher levels of stratification. Lower classes of stratification are not given the same opportunities as higher classes. Lower classes have ascribed statuses that are difficult to rise up from.
For example, if an individual is born into a family where the children are forced to work to support the family, these children may be deprived of the opportunity to prosper. They have the ascribed status of a worker, and have little, if any chance of achieving a more successful status in life. Most people look down upon lower classes, failing to realize that inequality deprives those people of the equal rights to prosperity. This occurs not only in a few societies, but all around the world. According to the social conflict paradigm, society is a complex system characterized by inequality and conflict, which generate social change.
Power and privilege are distributed unequally by social class, race, gender and age. These inequalities are often reinforced in societal institutions Macionis My participation in the class exercise allowed me to have an experience of life through the eyes a lower class individual. Even though the real world is much more extreme than the class exercise, I was still able to understand society and its levels of inequality. After experiencing society from a different perspective, I realize that although society has changed from the days of extreme inequality, it still needs much attention to equalizing the privileges between the different levels of stratification.
Bibliography Works Cited Macionis, John and Gerber, Linda. Skip to content. Search for: Search. facebook twitter linkedin wordpress. Social Inequality Essay Home essaybuys Social Inequality Essay. Social Inequality Essay Social Inequality As we prosper through time, inequality is slowly less evident. Character Development Of Julius Caesar. Place In Periodic Table Essay.
Good Essay About Social Inequalities,Economic Inequality Essay
WebJan 28, · Social inequality has been happening for decades and still continues to be a significant problem. According to Dr. Charles Walker, “Social inequality is the ways in WebMay 1, · This review examines the inequalities within the society based on the caste. The definitions of the social inequalities and caste, factors which produces the WebFeb 2, · Social Inequality Essay Topic Ideas & Examples �� Best Social Inequality Topic Ideas & Essay Examples. It is the duty of the tutor to craft a lecture-room WebJan 5, · Social inequality describes the extent of the differences between various groups in the society (Sernau, ). In many societies worldwide, differences among WebSocial inequality is defined as the set of unequal opportunities for different social classes or statuses for various individuals within a group or society. It usually refers to people of ... read more
Section I - Dimensions of Social Inequality Begin by identifying yourself on the dimensions commonly associated with social inequalities: social class income, wealth, current and intended education level, occupational prestige associated with current or planned career , race, ethnicity, and gender. The female could feel undervalued, and. Inequality : Inequality And Inequality Words 8 Pages. Although the Indian government outlawed the system in , vestiges of the caste system persist in India Desai and Dubey, Though some efforts to off-set this gender imbalance is in place, it is still commonly acknowledged that many careers are stated to be a male job such as lawyers, and female jobs such as secretaries. There was no intention in meaning that the blacks and Indians or even the women were equal.
Even in occupations requiring relatively equal years of training, rewards seem to vary Loseke Better Essays. Considerable research indicates that the degree of control people have over life circumstances. The poor continue to make up a large percentage of the Essay on social inequality population. Governments have implemented policies.
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