Inequality as an Excuse For Personal Failure This essay will consider the question, ‘Is inequality ‘just an excuse’ for personal failure?’ first by looking at the intended meaning of the question itself and possible interpretations of it. The essay will then move on to consider different arguments and opinions on the matter to draw a sound conclusion in order to answer the question. Inequality is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘a lack of equality’ which of course means, as one might expect, the definition and indeed existence of equality are paramount to that of inequality. The definition of equality is ‘the state of being equal’ in turn the definition of equal is ‘evenly balanced’. This indicates that if two things are equal they can be considered to be the same and therefore two unequal things are not the same. The question is examining whether people who are different from the majority in someway are disadvantaged or if they would be unjustified to claim so. In the practical situation of looking at inequality amongst people there are of course countless criteria which could be considered; race, gender, economic situation or class and age just to name a few. It would be advantageous for the sake of simplicity to only consider one of these in looking at the question in hand and of those considered probably the one with the most wide reaching effects within Britain is that of class and a person’s economic circumstances. Therefore this essay will concentrate on class and poverty with regards to equality; this by no means suggests that it is any more important, significant or valid than other criteria that could have been... ... middle of paper ... ... massively over simplified and it could be argued as a result not even touch upon however the question itself is unclear and would never have a single answer. Any individual could and probably would answer both yes and no as success in most areas of life is a complex combination of ability, dedication, opportunity and chance. Inequality is definitely more than just an excuse for personal failure but responsibility does need to be accepted by the individual. Bibliography Abercrombie, N (2000) Dictionary of Sociology, Suffolk: Penguin Giddens, A (1990) Sociology, Cambridge: Polity Press Franklin, J (1997) Equality, London: The Institute for Public Policy Research Levitas, R (1998) The Inclusive Society, Hampshire: Palgrave Soanes, C (2002) Oxford English Dictionary, New York: Oxford University Press
Gregory Mantsios presents himself as an expert in this essay because he states a lot of facts. The author uses stats, his own opinion, and my favorite thing that brought me in was the myths that he told the reality’s for later in the essay. Mantsios believes that no matter what social or economic class that you fall into, you have a fair chance at succeeding in life. I feel that the intended audience is the citizens of America or people in the workforce since they are the ones that have to deal with this situation. The thesis of this essay is “Perhaps, most importantly, the point that is missed is that inequality is persistent and structural- and it manifests itself in a multitude of cultural and social ways.” The author discussed the problems that occur from economic and social classes. The purpose of this argument is to debate on what kind of people will be successful in life. Everyone has a shot at being successful, and that they do with it is
(p1) Broadly speaking, class is about economic and social inequality… (p6) We have a tendency for groups of advanced people to congregate together, and groups of disadvantaged people to congregate so that inequalities persist from generation to generation.
University, T. T. (2011). Deprivation and it's Discontents. Retrieved October 24, 2011, from indianapublicmedia.org: http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/deprivation-discontents/
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,
In the treatise named “Leviathan” published in 1651, Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) proposed an early variant of equality among men that inequality did not exist in natural condition, meaning everyone is born equal; however, inequality's existence was the result of civil laws (Hobbes & Gaskin, 1998). In this sense, inequality is generally referred to social inequality which is characterized by the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society; plus, this negative social phenomenon contains structured and recurrent patterns of unequal distributions of goods, wealth, opportunities, rewards, and punishments (Crossman, 2012).
Louis P. Pojman and Robert Westmoreland, eds., Equality: Selected Readings (New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 1997), 33.
America has always seen as the symbolic ideal country of prosperity and equality. This is the reason why people come to America hoping to become successful, but in matter of fact we all have an equal plan field to be successful is not entirely true. For there are social boundaries that keep use limited based upon our own status. Whether we are born of a low class or of a high class the possibility of economic mobility in a sense are predetermined by two factors of social class and success together they both affecting one’s another opportunity of success. In order to achieve success, we must know that it is made up of two main concepts and they are fortune and position. But when a person is limited by their class prohibiting them to achieve success, the point of trying is meaningless. However, there is a way to break the construct that keep groups stuck in the lower-class and is through education. Education gives more opportunities for success to the individuals and since education is very important, culture and the government should focus more directly upon this to reach economic stability. Class standing directly affects economic success in America by limiting a person’s chance of success however; one can overcome by focusing more upon education and culture.
The social theory of privilege states that unearned or otherwise reasonably unacquirable advantages are social endowed to a particular person or group of people. These unearned advantages are often granted on the basis of demographic features such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or generation, although other criteria (such as ability, height, or attractiveness) may confer such advantages. There lie subtle distinctions between advantages that are earned but reasonably acquirable and advantages that are earned but reasonably unacquirable. For example, education confers social advantages, but not privilege; however, the access to education is a reasonably unacquirable advantage and would be considered a privilege. The ambiguity of privilege, though,
This oppression and discrimination is experienced through several forms of oppression including violence, racism classism and sexism not only at a personal level but also at the structural level. This high risk population is vulnerable for internalizing the oppression as an accepted norm. Mullaly believes that “people may be given certain rights but still be unable to exercise their rights due to particular social constraints based on class, gender, race and ethnicity.”
In Rousseau’s book “A Discourse On Inequality”, he looks into the question of where the general inequality amongst men came from. Inequality exists economically, structurally, amongst different generations, genders, races, and in almost all other areas of society. However, Rousseau considers that there are really two categories of inequality. The first is called Natural/Physical, it occurs as an affect of nature. It includes inequalities of age,, health, bodily strength, and the qualities of the mind and soul. The second may be called Moral/Political inequality, this basically occurs through the consent of men. This consists of the privileges one group may have over another, such as the rich over the poor.
We live in a world full of many societal issues. The aspects that determine whether one will have a successful or unsuccessful life is due to their characteristics such as race, gender, and social status. In the book Is Everyone Really Equal, Ozlem Sensoy and Robin DiAngelo’s exigence is to express the following issues and to encourage the reader to work upon changing the world through social injustice, oppression, power, and community.
The growing numbers of income inequality are rapidly increasing and it is absolutely terrifying. In these readings, we explored the thought of a personal problem and a social problem.
Thompson, N. (2003) Promoting Equality – Challenging Discrimination & Oppression. 2nd Edition. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
No two people are exactly the same; no one is raised the same as another person, no two people have the same mental acuity, and no two people have the same genetic or physical appearance. However, some people do not even have the privilege to get out of bed everyday and walk, because they instead have to climb into a wheelchair. This is just one example of a disability, but there are so many more in the world, and some people do not give disabled members of society the same opportunities they would afford to just about anyone else. Judging by the amount of awareness this social inequality is given today, there is just not enough of an audience to listen and do something about this issue. When analyzing all of the given evidence, one can easily
To understand the concept of social inequality, one needs to explore how it occurs and functions. According to Charles Walker, “Social inequality refers to the ways in which socially-defined categories of persons are differentially positioned with regard to access to a variety of social ‘goods”. Social inequality, therefore, is an umbrella term. It is expansive in nature, as social inequality encompasses a variety of different inequalities; for example, gender, race, and structural inequality are all social inequalities, but they can differ widely in manifestation. The definition of social inequality can also change based on the perception of the individual who is defining the term.