Why are People Unequal in Society?
According to Philosopher’s of the time of enlightenment the nature of society created inequality. These philosophers also believed that it was the job of the government to limit inequality and try to create conformity.
Now we are able to see that inequality emerges with each and every interaction. This is because every individual possesses qualities which may be better or worse than another’s. These qualities include things such as intelligence, athletic ability, and beauty. However, this has become a problem that we ourselves created. We choose to compare ourselves to others. Sociologists have examined two aspects of this problem. One of these aspects is the simplicity of how inequality arises in the first place. The second aspect is how it is perpetuated over time. Social structure is a social pattern that involves unequal ranks. Once these ranks are discovered inequality will always exist.
One of the main elements of inequality is the division of labor. There are three different settings for Division of Labor. The first setting is the economic setting. In this setting inequality occurs because of different jobs, money, positions of power, and dependence on others. This also creates inequality because an employer controls an employee. Once control is established there are automatically ranks. The boss may take advantage of his employee, and gain at this employee’s expense. Once this process has started it will never stop.
The second setting for division of labor is the organizational division of labor. This division includes such things as family, friends, groups, schools, politics, and
churches. Within these groups there is a sense of the follower and the leader. These leadership positions allow there to be an advantage over others. This also shows that all organizations have few in power and many that must follow them in order to succeed.
The third setting for the Division of Labor is the intentional division. This includes things such as war. In war there are always winners and losers. The winners of course end up ruling the losers. This provides a division of labor in which the outcome was somewhat intentional. This inequality is created by those who crave organization and structure. If these people do not agree with another country’s way of rule, they will defeat them and in turn bring in their own statutes.
Social conflict is another way of creating inequality within a society.
John Locke’s ideas on creating a government by the people and Voltaire’s ideas on practicing any religion shows how many enlightenment philosophers wanted people to live peacefully with others and the society. The ideas of many philosophers helped shape the capitalist, democratic world in which we live today. Today's government was created with a legislative and executive branch, like what Locke suggested and women have more rights, such as getting education and jobs that are same as those of men. Enlightenment philosophers main ideas on increasing human rights and equality helped create a better society during the Enlightenment period and
Income inequality has been and will forever continue to be a highly discussed topic in society. As a social experiment, income equality has historically failed. The adage from the communist era “from each according to his ability; to each according to his needs,” ran counter to human nature and experience. On balance, there are positive aspects to unequal income which include; its success in creating a more educated work force, competition among people to succeed and more stimulated productivity, which do not always, but tend to balance out any negative impacts such as; concentration of wealth, social consequences and outsourcing, that it may have.
This essay asks to discuss some of the ways in which differences and inequalities persist over time, suggesting that they are not static, continuing to be made and remade by the actions of people and society. With Inequality being defined as ‘‘The unequal distribution of valued social resources within society or between societies including money, housing, power, health and education”. whilst Differences is defined as “contrasts between groupings of people such as those based on gender, class, age, sexuality and race, including things people value and the variations between them including their physical, behavioural, attitudes and preferences”. (Blakeley and Staples, 2014 p 25). However, it is noted not all differences will lead to inequalities,
Inequality is an issue which has been analyzed by political thinkers for centuries. Some thinkers have long been supporting the subordination of one gender, race, or class over another with religious, moral, ethical, and scientific factors to support their claims; others, however, argue against any subordination of any decree. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), a famous philosopher of the eighteenth century, defined inequality in two parts: natural and social. Natural inequalities are the differences in bodily and mental strengths. Social inequalities, however, are the differences that exist between individuals in wealth, power and honor. For Rousseau, social inequalities are justified when they are able to reflect natural inequalities.
Marx vison of the division of labor consists of this struggle between classes. That all of the ideas that we use as our own are really originated by the upper class to sustain and uphold their power over the lower class. The ideas of the ruling class are used simply to justify their procession of material stuff while you have nothing. Durkheim’s primary view of the division of labor was that of interdependence and social solidarity. I feel that both are generally convincing, but Marx makes a better argument. It is clear to see there has and will most likely always be class struggle. Our society is made up of hierarchical ladders, someone will always think they are better and need to be in
...y the development of agriculture, the division of land followed its cultivation; and property became the first rules of justice. Things could have remained equal in this state if talents, use of resources, etc. had been equal, but in civil society or rather, in mans’ ‘state of civility’ natural inequality imperceptibly unfolds together with unequal associations.
Marx’s estrangement of worker and Durkheim’s anomic division of labor refer to somewhat similar ideas. In a society where capitalism dominates the way it functions, where private ownership of modes of production determines the profit one can earn, and accumulation of wealth in a few hands leads to separation of worker from his work. It can be categorized as the estrangement of worker from the product, his work, his identity as a human being and estrangement from the bourgeois (other members of the society). Worker finds product of his own work as an alien and hostile object, most of the time the price of the product is so high that he cannot even buy it for his own use. His work only means a means of survival for him that means less creativity and personal involvement in the work. Worker finds other members of the society who own means of the production as alien and hostile. He sees them enjoying the ...
Social inequality is characterized by the existence of unequal opportunity for various social positions or statuses within a given group or society. It is a phenomenon that has a long history as social inequalities has a wide range of varieties. From economic, gender, racial, status, and prestige, social inequality is a topic often disputed by classical theorists. Sociologists Karl Marx, Max Weber, W.I. Thomas, and Frederic M. Thrasher have formed varying thoughts on this recurring phenomenon. Marx believed that social inequality synthesized through conflicts within classes and in modern society those two classes were the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. In contrast, Weber disputes Marx’s simplistic view of the conflict and theorizes that social
In the late eighteenth century the ideas of liberty and equalities were beginning to flourish throughout the world, especially in Europe and in America (p.691). Part of this was believed to be due to the Enlightenment, for it changed the ways people thought about life. People were seeking equality and individual freedoms. They wanted equality, but it was an uncertain thing for the liberals argued that all citizens should have identical rights and civil liberties, and nobility should not have special privileges (However they did not believe that women had these rights or that there should be economical equality). It was these thoughts about individual rights and equalities, which fueled the people to create a revolution in both America and Europe (More specifically France).
When it comes to sociological research, Grusky and Weisshaar give specific layers or information about the four parameters of inequality and what they mean. These factors give common over views of the category in which the unfair distribution of goods and income are spread. The four parameters are listed as the amount of inequality, rigidity, ascriptive processes, and crystallization (Grusky and Weisshaar
Durkheim was desperate to understand what kept the world together and how people socialize within this realm. Durkheim expressed that social facts, “consist of manners of acting, thinking and feeling external to the individual, which are invested with a coercive power by virtue of which they exercise control over him” (pg. 205). These social facts work as a set of beliefs, values, or practices that work to constrain individuals. However, the division of labor keeps those values in check. Similar to a moral rule. For Durkheim, the division of labor was no just economic. The division of labor is detailed in every aspect of life as it is universally
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And poof-he was gone" (Usual Suspects). Today's devil is not a physicla being, but a metaphorical one. That of inequality on a worldwide scale. Although people would like to think that social inequality has been all, but destroyed in modern society it is still featured heavily within our media. Social inequality is the process of society limiting or harming a group’s social status. Prejudice can be based on class, race, and gender. It exists in all levels of media and reality. To Kill a Mockingbird and The Hunger Games show classism while The Little Mermaid and Antigone display sexism. Racism can be seen in The Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet and Black Like Me.
As time passes, there are a few things that have stayed constant since the beginning of time. One of those things is the inevitable creation of class and social structure. Class and social structure are constructed because of the inequality between classes. In “Workaday World – Crack Economy” written by Phillipe Bourgois, and the film People Like Us social inequality is present. In this paper, I will use the theories of Pierre Bourdieu and Leith Mullings to analyze and evaluate social equality while using the film and essay as a guideline.
The division of labour is ‘the greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour.’ To further increase this productivity is the individuals to specialize in their work; to do the work that is best suited to their needs, talents and ‘from regard of his own interest’ thus making work easier for all involved in the economic market place and labour force. As each worker specializes further into more niche roles, the less work each worker has to accomplish but more work can be done at a faster rate, increasing efficiency. According to
Political theories abound, considering many parts of society and the body politic. John Locke was one of the first to expound on the origins of property, and sixty-six years later Jean-Jacques Rousseau would also address the issues of property and inequality. According to Locke and Rousseau, the social contract is sanctioned by formal equalities yet creates or gives way to inequalities after it is formed. Though Locke would argue that inequalities in the private sphere don’t fall under the jurisdiction of the government, Rousseau would say justice gets deformed through inequality. Understanding how both equality and inequality can be present under the terms of the social contract is important because we cannot understand how to minimize inequalities if we do not first understand how they originated (origin). Inequality and equality can coexist under the terms of the social contract because the contract was formed under the influence of specious reasons with only an illusion of political equality.