Causes and Effects of Inequality and Disadvantage in Society

This presentation discusses the causes and effects of social inequality and disadvantage in society. It covers various social theories related to inequalities, causes of inequalities such as poverty, social exclusion, health, and education, and effects of inequalities such as stifling growth, increasing crime, decreasing health, and increasing fairness. It also discusses social policies and social stratification.

Evaluate the causes and
effects of inequality and
disadvantage in society
Name of the student

What is ‘Social Inequality’?
 Social inequality is not just social
difference.
 It is a comparative term in comparison
with other individuals in a society
 It is a disadvantages or inequality with
respect to social context.
 Principle inequalities in a society can
be divided into –
- Class
- Gender
- Race
- disparities in wealth and income
(Scheffer 2017)

Social theories related to
inequalities
 Functionalist theory
- Primary focus is on the
functioning of beliefs, values
and institutions within a society.
- Associated with Emile
Durkheim
- it is desirable to a society
for its proper functioning (Ritzer
and Stepnisky 2017)

Social theories related to
inequalities (Contd.)
 Conflict theory
- suggested by Karl Marx.
- perpetual competition
because of limited resources.
- Four primary assumptions
are there for conflict theory.
They are:
-- Competition
-- Revolution
-- Structural
inequality
-- War (Ritzer and
Stepnisky 2017)

Causes of inequalities
Poverty
 Inability to purchase required
necessity by custom or nature -
Adam Smith
 Leads to stagnation of growth
and stability
 Creates unintentional poverty for
the future generation in
underprivileged families.

Causes of inequalities (Contd.)
Social exclusion
 Individuals suffering systematic
disadvantages because of their
race, sexual orientation, religion,
race, gender, disability, migration
status, HIV status and caste.
 Multi- dimensional aspect
 These dimensions are
-- Political
-- Social
-- Cultural
-- economic

Causes of inequalities (Contd.)
Health
 Individual with poor health or
illness are unable work in his/ her
full productivity.
 Poverty increase stress
 Stress is a risk factor for various
illness and disease.
 Unequal countries in Europe
have more outcomes of mental
health.

Causes of inequalities (Contd.)
Education
 Plays an important role in
inequalities present in a society
 Less educated person have less
of a chance of getting highly paid
job or to become a high skilled
labourer.
 Completion of education also
enhances the per capita income
of a country.

Effects of inequalities
Stifles Growth
 Can be a positive influence for
short term but in long term it has
negative correlation with
economic growth.
 Tends to increase predatory
market behaviour.
 Investment and capital became
scarce (Stiglitz 2015).

Effects of inequalities (Contd.)
Increases crime
 There is a positive correlation
between crime and inequality.
 Evidence points that inequality
tends to increase crime rate.
 High crime rate is prevalent in
poor area of u equal society
(Stiglitz 2015).

Effects of inequalities (Contd.)
Decreases health
 Unequal society suffers from
decrease in health index.
 Illness occurrence rate is higher
amongst the member of
impoverished group within the
society.
 Increases high disease and
mortality rates, lower income
work force, higher health care
cost (Stiglitz 2015).

Effects of inequalities (Contd.)
Increases fairness
 Society with inequality tend to be
fairer than without it.
 Unrestrained market generally
develops in to economic
inequality (Stiglitz 2015).

Social Policies
 UK government has initiated and implemented the policy named
“Improving lives: Helping Workless Families” to improve the
lives of workless families.
 One of the main focus is the children in workless families
 The number of the children is 1.8 million in UK
 For evaluation purpose, government has set out nine indicators.
 Two statutory and seven non- statutory (GOV.UK 2018)

Social Policies (Contd.)
 Another programme introduced by UK government is known as
“Troubled Families programme “
 First phase duration: 2012 - 2015
 Secon phase duration of the programme is 2015 – 2020
 Targeted focus group: Children
 Almost 189,500 families and 661,102 individuals participated in
this programme.
 Above data is for the duration between Septem 2014 – June 2017
(Assets.publishing.service.gov.uk 2017).

Social Stratification
 One of the model which can be
used to represent the patterns of
social inequality.
 Normally used to classify gender
and class
 Can be segmented into three
segment
-- Class
-- Status
-- Power (Keller 2017)

References
 Assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. (2017). DWP. Available at:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/
attachment_data/file/694356/20180326_Troubled_Families_-
_families_outcomes_report.pdf [Accessed 6 Dec. 2018].
 GOV.UK. 2018. Improving lives: Helping Workless Families. Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-lives-helping-workless-
families [Accessed 5 Dec. 2018].
 Keller, S., 2017. Beyond the ruling class: strategic elites in modern society.
Routledge.
 Ritzer, G. and Stepnisky, J., 2017. Modern sociological theory. SAGE Publications.
 Scheffer, M., van Bavel, B., van de Leemput, I.A. and van Nes, E.H., 2017. Inequality
in nature and society. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
p.201706412.
 Stiglitz, J.E., 2015. 8. Inequality and Economic Growth. The Political Quarterly, 86,
pp.134-155.