Social inequality is found in almost
every society. In simple societies, those that have few social roles and
statuses occupied by its members, social inequality may be very low. In tribal societies, for example, a tribal head
or chieftain may hold some privileges, use some tools, or wear marks of office
to which others do not have access, but the daily life of the chieftain is very
much like the daily life of any other tribal member. Anthropologists identify such highly egalitarian
cultures as "kinship-oriented," which appear to value
social harmony more than wealth or status. These cultures are contrasted with
materially oriented cultures in which status and wealth are prized and
competition and conflict are common. Kinship-oriented cultures may actively
work to prevent social hierarchies from developing because they believe
that could lead to conflict and instability.[3] In today's world, most of our
population lives in more complex than simple societies. As social complexity increases, inequality tends to
increase along with a widening gap between the poorest and the most wealthy
members of society.
Social status is accorded to persons
in a society on at least two bases: ascribed characteristics and achieved characteristics. Ascribed characteristics are those present at birth or
assigned by others and over which an individual has little or no control.
Examples include sex, skin color, eye shape, place of birth, sexuality, gender
identity, parentage and social status of parents. Achieved characteristics are
those which we earn or choose; examples include level of education, marital
status, leadership status and other measures of merit.
In most societies, an individual's social status is a combination of ascribed
and achieved factors. In some societies, however, only ascribed statuses are
considered in determining one's social status and there exists little to no social mobility and, therefore, few paths to more
social equality. This type of
social inequality is generally referred to as caste
inequality.
One's social location in a society's
overall structure of social stratification affects and is affected by almost
every aspect of social life and one's life chances
The single best predictor of an individual's future social
status is the social status into which they were born. Theoretical approaches
to explaining social inequality concentrate on questions about how such social
differentiations arise, what types of resources are
being allocated, what are the roles of humancooperation and conflict in allocating resources, and how do
differing types and forms of inequality affect the overall functioning of a
society?
The variables considered most
important in explaining inequality and the manner in which those variables
combine to produce the inequities and their social consequences in a given
society can change across time and place. In addition to interest in comparing and
contrasting social inequality at local and national levels, in the wake of
today's globalizing processes, the most interesting
question becomes: what does inequality look like on a worldwide scale and what
does such global inequality bode for the future? In effect, globalization
reduces the distances of time and space, producing a global interaction of
cultures and societies and social roles that can increase global inequities
No comments:
Post a Comment