...“An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.” –Plutarch. Inequality has been a problem for a long time, and every country has some form of inequality. It can be economic, social, and gender. Inequality is an issue, but there need to be poor for there to be rich. The problem is the gap between the rich and the poor. The distribution of wealth is too uneven. The main purpose of this essay is to address the question that many people are asking themselves: is inequality a consequence of too much or too little government intervention. The government intervenes in the economy in four ways. First, it produces public goods and services, such as education, infrastructure, national defense, and health care....
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...Sociology Homework: Examine the sociological explanations of unequal distributions of wealth and income in contemporary Britain (24 marks) There are five main sociological explanations of unequal distributions of wealth and income in contemporary Britain that I will be discussing as well as explaining within this essay. One sociological explanation for the unequal distribution of wealth and income in contemporary Britain is because it is necessary for the maintenance of society. This is argued by functionalists such as Davis and Moore who suggest that inequality in wealth and income is very significant due to the fact that some jobs are seen as more functionally important than others. As well as this, they believe that meritocratic values such as wages need to be imbalanced in order for the most capable people to have the best and highest jobs. A prime example of this would be of road cleaners who would earn about 9,000 a year where as a C.E.O of a computing company earns over millions a year. This links to contemporary Britain because it portrays how income and even wealth is unevenly shared out between proletariats and the bourgeoisie and most importantly it indicates at how low-paid wages would be the result of poverty. This theory can be criticised because it infers to some jobs being more important than others which is not true as every job in society contributes in helping society progress and become better, in this case being a road cleaner would be just as important...
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...Britain is often described as an unequal society in terms of wealth and income. Social inequality from a sociological point of view means a lack of fairness between different groups of people living in society. The essay aims to explore the reasons behind the unequal distribution of wealth and income from a functionalist, Marxist and Weber point of view. From a functionalist point of view, the unequal distribution of wealth and income in contemporary Britain is necessary for the survival of society. They would argue that all aspects of society, even poverty, contribute to Britain’s overall stability. Functionalists such as Davis and Moore argue that those who perform the difficult and important jobs are therefore entitled to more power, prestige and money. This motivates the most qualified people to exercise their talents in the most important social positions. However, this can be criticised because it is too difficult to determine the functional importance of any jobs. Nurses are an example of people who are not highly compensated and do not have notably high prestige, but who work long hours and are essential to maintaining society’s health. The high stress of their job and low incentives to do it contradict the theory of functionalism. Another explanation of the unequal distribution of wealth and income is that the means of production is controlled by a small and powerful ruling class. Marxist sociologists argue that in a capitalist society, the bourgeoisies exploit the...
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...Social Inequality essay plans for Part b) 30 mark question Evaluate the usefulness of sociological explanations of ethnic inequalities.(30) Evaluate the view that society is institutionally racist (30) Adapt according to question given Introduction Ethnic inequalities are still significant in the UK – give a few examples. Suggest some explanations e.g Racism, Institutional racism, social class of ethnic minorities (Marxism), welfare dependency (New Right). This essay will identify and assess these explanations. AO1 Define types of Racism e.g Barker and new racism, institutional racism – McPhearson report on murder of stephen lawrence – racism in met police. Jenkins suggests recruitment to jobs is more word of mouth and disadvantages ethnic minorities. Modood 1994 28% of african caribbean people surveyed said they felt they had been refused a job on grounds of race. AO2 There are many government acts such as Race relations acts which should prevent discrimination AO2 However because racism is implicit (hidden) now it can be difficult to prove in court. AO1 Marxists such as Westergaard and Resler argue that race is a distraction from the real issue which is social class. It is capitalism which disadvantages certain groups and ethnic minorities are more likely to be in lower classes. AO2 However this ignores the existence of racism in society e.g in education where black boys have the highest exclusion rates in school. AO1 Another marxist explanation by Castles...
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...Contemporarily, global inequality means the extent to which income and wealth is distributed in an uneven manner among the world’s population. With international trade, more wealth is gradually being transferred from poor areas to others. As a result of this influx, the well-off are enjoying luxury yachts, private aircrafts, upscale restaurants and so forth, while only for the bread of every meal are the impoverished working around clock. A rising number of poor people are suffering from extreme poverty, injustice and illness. The most critical problems are those associated with global inequality. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the problems of global inequality, including its causes, and to identify solutions, providing reasons that support these solutions. Section 1: The global inequality, mainly referring to the increasing gap between the poor and rich nations, is an inevitable problem driven by globalization. The number of people whose daily wages were less than 2 USA dollars rose by 350 million around the world during the past ten years (APEC Study Centre n.d., para.1). One of the most significant problems is “the gap in incomes …has grown from 30 to 1 in 1960 to 82 to 1 in 1995” (APEC Study Centre n.d., para.1). According to another report, “the richest 85 people in the world are worth more than the poorest 3.5 billion” (Global Wealth Report 2003). Additionally, the richest one fifth of the world’s population had approximately 78% of the word GDP (Gross Domestic...
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...Income inequality is one of the big issues in 21st century. Unequal distribution of income in society is considered to be an obstacle to economic growth. The income allocation of a country’s population can be measured by a Gini coefficient. The value of Gini coefficient can be between 0 and 1 and used to define the income gap between the rich and the poor. The value 0 shows perfect equality and value 1 illustrates perfect inequality. The US can be an example of country with high income inequality. The US Gini coefficient has risen by 20% between 1979 and 2010 (Frizell, 2014). Factors like family structure (i.e. how many earners are there in family), technology (i.e. changes the way that we live), and immigration (i.e. changes the supply of...
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...potentially dangerous problem of income inequality. There are constantly debates over the topic of raising the minimum wage, and with good reason: Between 1979 and 2009, the wealthiest 5 percent of American families saw income increases of 72.7 percent, while the lowest income group in America saw a decrease of 7.4 percent in income. Meanwhile, in the same time frame, productivity has increased by 90 percent. These issues combined have caused a huge wealth gap in America. This is primarily due, of course, to the selfish materialism of those higher-ups who prefer to have millions of dollars for themselves while the very citizens that work for them barely have enough to feed themselves. While this conflict has not yet become violent, it could do so quickly. Think of the French Revolution in the 18th century. It was caused by the poor finally rebelling against the rich who oppressed them. Already, in the present, there are some forms of rebellion, albeit nonviolent. The Occupy Wall Street Movement has protested this income inequality. While there are many different viewpoints on the subject, one solution to this issue is simple in theory: Those with more must give to those with less. If the millionaire CEOs, whose incomes have more than quadrupled since the 1980s, would be willing to sacrifice some of their money so that the workers could just afford to live, the conflict could be solved. Raising the minimum wage and allowing workers a higher income is the simplest and easiest...
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...According to the essay” The Future of Capitalism”, the author focused on the market solutions that could effectively address the pressing and future economic and social problems in advanced capitalist economies. I am from China where a communist country is. It is a trend to change the governmental structure to capitalism, because the China’s economy is progressing that provides Chinese residents with better life and personal consciousness. All of these aspects influence the development of economic and governmental construction. In the countries of capitalism, there are three economic problems that exist in the society which the paper indicates the following aspects, such as mass unemployment, income inequality and environmental decay. Unemployment means that a significant portion of the population is not being allowed to participate fully in society. Mass unemployment is the result of economic depression, and income distribution is related to labor market. In the paper cites the two problems are endemic in the capitalist economies in that they are the natural results of the interplay of market force and the drive for capital to expand itself. I think unemployment and inequality are closely related to each other. Unemployment is the reason and inequality is the outcome. If a society wants to maintain its status quo, it must provide corresponding goods and service consumed to ensure the synchronization with the market. Employee and goods have been used up in the produced process...
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...CHAPTER 7 – DEVIANCE, CRIME, AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM MULTIPLE CHOICE 1. Devance- Viewing deviance as a violation of social norms, sociologists have characterized it as "any thought, feeling, or action that members of a social group judge to be a violation of their values or rules "or group" 2. Stimga- stigma refers to the concept of people being 'marked' as different, specifically in a negative manner, based on some characteristic that separates them from the rest of the society. Some are based on inherent characteristic such as mental illness where people cannot change. 3. What is the difference between formal and informal deviance Formal deviance is behqavior that violates laws. Major crimes etc, informal is behavior that disregards accepted social norms like picking ones nose 4. What are the major sources of crime statistics? FBI’s uniform Crime report(UCR) and victimization surveys 5. Crime differs from deviance because- with a crime comes punishment 6. What are the shortcoming of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR)? The data doesn’t offer accurate measures on the extent of “crime” 7. What are examples of victimless crimes include Acts that violate laws but involve individuals who don’t consider themselves victems, offenses that are the least likely to be reported 8. Sanctions are rewards or punishments for obeying or violating a norm 9. ____functionalist/ strain theory___ believe that crime occurs when people experience blocked...
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...South Africa is considered an upper middle income country in terms of the World Bank tables but according to Wilson (2011:2) as well as Cornell and Wilson (2012:1) poverty in South Africa, despite its high income ranking, is widespread and severe. The only possible explanation for the contradiction in South Africa’s characteristics would be the deep levels of inequality experienced within the country (Wilson 2011: 2). This essay is going to prove, through looking at what poverty and inequality entail, how it originated in South Africa as well as evaluating statistical evidence, that inequality is indeed a more pressing socio-economic challenge than poverty is in contemporary South Africa. According to Laderchi, Saith and Stewart (2007:1) most policies now a days are somehow related to the impact of poverty on the country but in order for these policies to make a difference it is important to know what we are aiming at and therefore a clear understanding of what poverty and inequality is as well as where these terms originated from is essential for success. Laderchi, Saith and Stewart (2007) supply us with multiple approaches to poverty including the monetary approach, capabilities approach, social exclusion approach as well as participatory approach. Universally the monetary approach is dominantly accepted and used. This approach describes poverty as being a shortfall below a minimum level of resources or poverty line which is assessed through whether the individual can meet...
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...The Gilded Age, a period beginning in the 1870’s and lasting until the late 1890’s, was an era in American history characterized by unparalleled economic growth and technological advancements while also plagued by significant social and political challenges. The name Gilded Age is derived from famous author Mark Twain’s novel of the same name, written for the purpose of exposing the blatant corruption and excessive materialism of America’s most rich and powerful. This essay aims to analyze the juxtaposition of prosperity among the wealthy elite and inequality during the Gilded Age. The rampant industrialization of the Gilded Age propelled prosperity by fostering great economic growth and technological innovation, consequently exacerbating...
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...The Human Development Index and the Inequality Human Development Index Human development is defined as the process of enlarging people’s freedoms and opportunities and improving their well-being. Human development is about the real freedom ordinary people have to decide who to be, what to do, and how to live. The human development concept was developed by economist Mahbub ul Haq. At the World Bank in the 1970s, and later as minister of finance in his own country, Pakistan, Dr. Haq argued that existing measures of human progress failed to account for the true purpose of development—to improve people’s lives. In particular, he believed that the commonly used measure of Gross Domestic Product failed to adequately measure well-being. Working with Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen and other gifted economists, in 1990 Dr. Haq published the first Human Development Report, which was commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme. The Human Development Index was developed as an alternative to simple money metrics. It is easy-to-understand numerical measures made up of what most people believe are the very basic ingredients of human well-being: health, education, and income. The first Human Development Index was presented in 1990. It has been an annual feature of every Human Development Report since, ranking virtually every country in the world from number one currently Norway, to number 186 Niger. Like all averages, it conceals disparities in human development across the population...
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...Inequalities, both domestic and global, illuminate the inevitability and functionality of stratification. Discuss. The title of this essay covers a very wide topic of stratification, and in this essay I will look at the many different forms of stratification that exist both at home here in Ireland and also on a worldwide scale, but to begin with I’m going to describe and define what stratification really means. In short stratification is basically how society ranks in hierarchy, which in detail means the vertical or hierarchical division of society according to rank, class or caste. Caste is defined as “a form of social stratification based on inherited status or ascription.” and this definition goes on to say that “ones social destiny is determined at birth with no chance or opportunity to change this class you have been born into.1”. It remains to be argued whether this statement is true or false, ! ! personally I think it is possible to change class or to move up or down a social class. Yes ones social destiny is determined at birth but it is possible to move up and down the social class ladder, all it takes is determination. Although if one is to begin at the bottom of the ladder, born into a family with harsh surroundings, it will be much harder to move up the ranks, as your success largely depends on your cultural background. If there is no one around you to support you with your studies or with any educational things you may be interested in, then doing any of...
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...The growing problem of income inequality in New Zealand and around the world will have significant effects on the consumption or work, goods and services by myself and my family and society as a whole. This essay will discuss these effects on consumption should this inequality continue on its current path. I will begin by discussing income inequality and the evidence of it today and the issues that this inequality creates in society. The essay will then give an overview of my current position in society and the market and I will then discuss some issues and future implications of income inequality and how they will shape the consumption of work, goods and services by my family and myself. This section will also consider how the psychological aspects of consumption could be affected by income inequality and deal with the social ramifications of this inequality and look at any possible changes to our consumption from a cultural sense. This essay will argue that income inequality can have significant potential to change the future consumption of work, goods and services by myself and my family. The concept of income inequality is not new it has been discussed by politicians and economists for a number of years if not centuries, as the old adage says ‘the rich get richer the poor get poorer’. The ministry of social development defines it as, “The extent of disparity between high income and low income households” (Ministry of Social Development, 2010) and it essentially deals with...
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...others' social location within a given society. The New Egalitarians are a group of sociologists and politicians who believe that social-class divisions are in decline and that policies to socially include deprived groups are working. Their critics consist mainly of the Traditionalists, Marxists and Neo Marxists. In this essay I aim to show how persuasive the New Egalitarian argument is. New Egalitarian sociologists such as Giddens and Diamond (2005) argue that social class is no longer an important source of inequality or identity in the contemporary UK. They suggest that the UK is a meritocratic society in that equality of opportunity is now the norm, i.e. all members of society are objectively and equally judged on their talent and ability. However, the Traditionalist view opposes this; they argue class divisions and conflict are still the key characteristics of British society today. They believe that Labour politicians have abandoned their commitment to equality and social justice for those exploited by the organisation of capitalism. They believe Labour politicians have betrayed its working-class roots because it has done nothing to redistribute wealth and income from rich to poor, or to address the fundamental flaws that they see as inherent in the capitalist system. Therefore, they argue that by implying effort is the key to success, as the New Egalitarians do, little is done to change existing structural arrangements that have traditionally benefited the economic elite. In...
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