Social Inequality | Political Science

Running head: POLITICAL SCEIENCE
Political Science
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1POLITICAL SCEIENCE
Social inequality is one of the largest problems that people in this world face very
regularly. Especially, the impact of this problem is seen completely among the minority sections
like the First Nations people or the aboriginals in Canada and Australia and the African
Americans. The deprivation of the social facilities and their poor conditions should be the eye
opener for the first world countries.1 Social inequalities and racism generally comes in the form
of keeping these sections of the society out of all the social privileges that the rich and white
skinned people enjoy. The unequal opportunities among these people have existed for centuries
and decades in the world. The governments have not taken proper steps so this kind of issue can
be curtailed for the betterment of the society. This paper will look to focus and analyze on the
various situations through which the social discrimination has come to the forefront trough the
negligence regarding the implementation of the facilities provided by the governments.
People belonging to different positions in the society are measured through their social
status like the economic scale, their religious and ethnic backgrounds, their ethnic minority other
factors. It must be pointed out from the perspectives of the human beings that all these persons
are human beings and they deserve the same facilities and privileges that other people enjoy. No
deprivation should exist based on any divisions within the social boundaries. The governing
bodies of the society have implemented some boundaries or limitations through which their
positions are marked and it is judged how they can cater to the society. The First Nations people
in Canada are completely discriminated in terms of their social positions and their roles in the
society.
1 Bodenhausen, Galen V., C. Neil Macrae, and Jeffery W. Sherman. "On the dialectics of discrimination: Dual
processes in social stereotyping." (2016).

2POLITICAL SCEIENCE
Before proceeding with the matters, the actual meaning of the inequality within the
society must be understood. The distribution of wealth, healthcare structures, education facilities
and other essential things are not at all properly distributed in the society for these people.
Therefore, there is a high need for everyone to see into this issue and highlight some ways
through which this issue can be stopped. They are not given the similar opportunities of getting
admitted to a good school, treated in the best healthcare facilities and many other instances.
Many complications have come up in the education facilities to practice this
discrimination. It must be taken under the consideration that the different individuals have
different dispositions, ethnic backgrounds and lack of resources. The ethnic background,
religion, culture and other factors are predetermined before their birth. So, these things should
not be measured while providing social facilities. Therefore, it is an unethical behavior by all
means and this should be stopped.2 In case of the domestic violence and other criminal cases
against them, these ethnic minorities all around the world are even deprived of the justice also.
The children are the biggest victims of the social and racial discrimination in Canada. It
has been identified from some research studies that the federal government of Canada is not
funding proper money to provide best education services to the First Nations children in Canada.
This is completely an extreme activity of discrimination where children are not provided with
their basic rights for the education.
The governments must acknowledge the fact that these children are the future of the
nation and they simply want to study. The act of preventing them from the opportunities of study
2 Bodenhausen, Galen V., C. Neil Macrae, and Jeffery W. Sherman. "On the dialectics of discrimination: Dual
processes in social stereotyping." (2016).

3POLITICAL SCEIENCE
will destroy their futures. In turn, it will also create a barrier in the economic progress of the
country also. The residential school era is the most highly criticized school governing system in
the world. Most children of the First Nations people are take away from their parents and taught
in the residential schools.3 This affects their mindset since they are away from their home, their
culture and most importantly their parents.
Some reasons have also been shown by the federal government to justify their actions. It
might have been the lack of the resource availability of their parents that might have led them to
attend the residential schools.4 The government has also made some claims that they have the
essential elements that would support the residential schooling for these First Nations children
and dedicate towards their improvement. The outcomes are only contrary in this scenario.
Most children of the First Nations communities had to come away from their residential
school structure and stay with their parents. The lack of food and supply of nutrients make them
weaker. This is the reason the mortality rate of these First Nations people is so high. In fact, the
overall budget allocation for the education rights for First nations children is less than they
provide for the other communities.5 This is nothing but simple discrimination among these
aboriginal people in Canada. This issue of underfunding for the First Nations children in the
3 Major, Brenda, and Tessa L. Dover. "Attributions to discrimination: Antecedents and consequences." (2016).
4 Dolezsar, Cynthia M., Jennifer J. McGrath, Alyssa JM Herzig, and Sydney B. Miller. "Perceived racial
discrimination and hypertension: a comprehensive systematic review." Health Psychology 33, no. 1 (2014): 20.
5 Uzogara, Ekeoma E., and James S. Jackson. "Perceived skin tone discrimination across contexts: African
American women’s reports." Race and Social Problems 8, no. 2 (2016): 147-159.

4POLITICAL SCEIENCE
country is definitely a crime or violation of ethics. This has violated the norms of the Canadian
Human Rights Act and strict actions must be taken against the governing bodies for such kind of
discriminatory act.
The health inequalities in Canada among the people of First Nations should be described
in detail so the readers can understand how these poor people are deprived of their basic rights of
staying well. The social, economic and political disadvantages have belittled the condition of
these people so they are living a life of utter humiliation and misery. Though Canada is ranked
among the best healthcare systems in the world, it has faced with several disparities regarding
their provision towards healthcare system for the indigenous and non-indigenous section of the
society.6
Canada has a very well maintained healthcare distribution system but they are not
bothered about the healthcare scenario of the poor aboriginals in their country.7 This affects their
social solidarity in a massive manner. According to the statistics of a research, it has been
confirmed that the suicide rates of Inuit young people ranks first all over the world.8 This number
is supposed to be 11 times higher than the national average of Canada. It is a mysterious matter
6 Lamont, Michèle, Jessica S. Welburn, and Crystal M. Fleming. "Responses to discrimination and social resilience
under neoliberalism." In New Perspectives on Resilience in Socio-Economic Spheres, pp. 143-176. Springer VS,
Wiesbaden, 2016.
7 Assari, Shervin. "Health disparities due to diminished return among black Americans: Public policy
solutions." Social Issues and Policy Review 12, no. 1 (2018): 112-145.
8 Major, Brenda, and Tessa L. Dover. "Attributions to discrimination: Antecedents and consequences." (2016).

5POLITICAL SCEIENCE
that a country like Canada, sitting at the top rank for the quality of life, is going through such
allegations. However, it is also a scary statistics that the overall suicide rates of the Canadian
aboriginal youth under 15 years age is almost 50 times higher than that of the non-indigenous
people. 9
Apart from these issues, some other factors must be highlighted in this discourse also.
There are multiple other segments where the social discrimination and social inequality had
persisted continuously. The life expectancy of the First Nations people is believed to be six years
less than the overall national average of Canada. Also, the rate of infant mortality is almost
double than the national average. This signifies that the highly developed healthcare system of
Canada is not able to take proper care of the children in the country also. Therefore, it is a very
shameful social condition that Canada goes through.10 The number of injuries and accidental
deaths among the First Nations Aboriginal people is much higher than Canadian national average
also.11
The economic structure of Canada does not support the quality of life for the Canadian
aboriginals. Roughly very few Canadian aboriginal people are able to attain the poverty line
while most of them live under it. Most people from the aboriginal sections of Canada depend on
9 Monk Jr, Ellis P. "Skin tone stratification among black Americans, 2001–2003." Social Forces 92, no. 4 (2014):
1313-1337.
10 Godley, Jenny. "Everyday discrimination in Canada: Prevalence and patterns." Canadian Journal of Sociology 43,
no. 2 (2018): 111-142.
11 Bhugra, Dinesh. "Social discrimination and social justice." (2016): 336-341.

6POLITICAL SCEIENCE
the social assistance. On the other hand, the unemployment rate for the non-aboriginals of
Canada is around 7.4% where this figure is almost double for the First Nations people standing at
19.1%. 12 However some positive points have been identified in this juncture as well. People
belonging to the aboriginal or First Nations section do not have to pay the GST or the federal tax
and PST or provincial sales tax. 13
In the next section, the social inequality among the African Americans will be shown
since they are in tremendous distress also. Their social identity is very much limited and they
have limited rights in the nations they live.14 Racism because of skin color and ethnicity is the
main reason as to why the situation has grown to be much fearsome. They are mostly abandoned
in some societies and not paid respect for the generous activities they might perform. Though
there are some exceptions in this matter but most cases are all the same where their economic
status is very low in the United States in the recent times.
According to the various statistics, it has been found that most African Americans are not
likely to marry. They do not even complete their graduation. This can only take place because of
12 Reitz, Jeffrey G., Patrick Simon, and Emily Laxer. "Muslims’ social inclusion and exclusion in France, Québec,
and Canada: Does national context matter?." Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 43, no. 15 (2017): 2473-
2498..
13 Himmelstein, Mary S., Danielle M. Young, Diana T. Sanchez, and James S. Jackson. "Vigilance in the
discrimination-stress model for Black Americans." Psychology & health 30, no. 3 (2015): 253-267.
14 Kielland, Norah, and Tonina Simeone. Current issues in mental health in Canada: the mental health of First
Nations and Inuit communities. Ottawa: Library of Parliament, 2014.

7POLITICAL SCEIENCE
two reasons and both of these reasons stem from social inequality.15 The first reason is these
young African Americans cannot complete their graduation because of the social inequality that
takes place in the colleges and universities.
So they have to leave their colleges. This is very unfortunate for them from all the ways.
They will not get the jobs until they complete their graduation. The concept of social
discrimination even continues in their employment scenario also. The Jim Crow laws have also
created some barriers in this situation also.16 The slavery of the African Americans has been the
continuous practice in the United States that has inflicted pain in the lives of these people.
The social discrimination in America has always remained the great concern for the
common people in the society. Most African Americans have migrated from their home lands
with the aim of chasing the American Dream. Still they had to tolerate the pangs of pain and
injustice in the societies they live in.17 Majority of these black people have to hear some
insensitive comments about their race and ethnicity despite having the talents to show. Apart
from the racial discrimination based on ethnicity and skin color, these African Americans have to
go through the gender discrimination in some contexts also.18 The stress process has been
discovered by the researchers and they have identified the social and gender discrimination
15 Spence, Nicholas D., Samantha Wells, Kathryn Graham, and Julie George. "Racial discrimination, cultural
resilience, and stress." The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 61, no. 5 (2016): 298-307.
16 Bhugra, Dinesh. "Social discrimination and social justice." (2016): 336-341.
17 Jessen, Sarah, and Tobias Grossmann. "Unconscious discrimination of social cues from eye whites in
infants." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111, no. 45 (2014): 16208-16213.

8POLITICAL SCEIENCE
among the women who belong to the communities of the black Americans. The wealth
inequality is also one of the major issues that can be looked as a serious concern.19 The
demographic variables will have to be considered for the better situations. Various economists
and policymakers are making their best efforts so they can understand and calculate the actual
reasons behind this growth regarding incomes of black and white people. Researchers have used
the longitudinal data so this issue can be measured properly.20 The issues can be understood
through the surveys organized by the groups of married couples, single men and women.
It has been a matter of common sense that the African Americans should be able to
complete their education before they could get the proper jobs and establish themselves in their
lives.21 The concept of education and job is supposed to go hand in hand. Therefore, it was
impossible for the African Americans to land with the proper jobs before they could make the
18 Barr, Abigail, Tom Lane, and Daniele Nosenzo. "On the social inappropriateness of discrimination." Journal of
Public Economics 164 (2018): 153-164.
19 Unzueta, Miguel M., Benjamin A. Everly, and Angélica S. Gutiérrez. "Social dominance orientation moderates
reactions to Black and White discrimination claimants." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 54 (2014): 81-
88.
20 Betton, Victoria, Rohan Borschmann, Mary Docherty, Stephen Coleman, Mark Brown, and Claire Henderson.
"The role of social media in reducing stigma and discrimination." The British Journal of Psychiatry 206, no. 6
(2015): 443-444.
21 Assari, Shervin, and Cleopatra Howard Caldwell. "Social determinants of perceived discrimination among black
youth: Intersection of ethnicity and gender." Children 5, no. 2 (2018): 24.

9POLITICAL SCEIENCE
proper steps towards attaining a quality life.22 However, it has been questioned many times by
the researchers about the actual reasons behind this segregation and differences in the society.
The civil rights movements did not cater to the demands of the black workers in the United
States and most of them have to live under the darkness of uncertainty. Thus, the racism has
impacted on the black communities living in the country.23
Some of the major events that can be discussed in this segment are the geographical
displacement and genocide in the regions. When the settlers from Europe actually came to the
North American territory, it was actually these native black Americans who possessed all the
resources and keys to the continent. Therefore, the European forces applied their military
strengths and displaced those native black Americans from the land. These native black people
were called the ‘uncivilized savages’ by the European tribes. This is how they came to own the
lands in these regions and denounce these African Americans. It has been acclaimed in the
historical records that the action of geographical displacement was complete around the 19th
century.24 During this period of time, these people had been confined into the region called the
Indian Reservations. However, the conditions have slightly improved for the African Americans
22 Jessen, Sarah, and Tobias Grossmann. "Unconscious discrimination of social cues from eye whites in
infants." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111, no. 45 (2014): 16208-16213.
23 Başar, Koray, Gökhan Öz, and Jale Karakaya. "Perceived discrimination, social support, and quality of life in
gender dysphoria." The journal of sexual medicine 13, no. 7 (2016): 1133-1141.
24 Berger, Maximus, and Zoltán Sarnyai. "“More than skin deep”: stress neurobiology and mental health
consequences of racial discrimination." Stress 18, no. 1 (2015): 1-10.

10POLITICAL SCEIENCE
since Barrack Obama became the President of United States though he belonged to the similar
community. These people from African American community are now free to roam all over the
United States. Still, the economic problems are yet to be resolved.
The second part that must be kept under consideration is the scenario of the slavery on
the black Americans. It is undoubted that the people of the African origin living in the United
States had their ancestors who belonged to the white Americans completely. These ancestors of
the black skinned Americans were made slaves by the white Americans and this practice went on
for a long time.25
These white Americans were the slave owners and they possessed the absolute powers on
these slaves. This is why they could inflict any kind of torture on them. In some cases, it was
found that slaves were being tortured and abused by their masters. This shows the moral down
gradation of the white Americans of the region. On the other hand, it is crucial to note that in
those days it was a matter of high social status who won the slaves. Some people did not abuse
their slaves but they had a paternalistic attitude towards their slaves.
All these things are basically the limitations on the minority ethnicities. This is why it has
been one of the biggest challenges for the current policymakers to understand they have to deal
with this issue with much social importance. Otherwise, the existence of these people will
completely be vanquished under the difficult circumstances. Therefore, these differences and
disparities have created huge problems for the people of different social sections. These
25 Başar, Koray, Gökhan Öz, and Jale Karakaya. "Perceived discrimination, social support, and quality of life in
gender dysphoria." The journal of sexual medicine 13, no. 7 (2016): 1133-1141.

11POLITICAL SCEIENCE
disparities have created massive differences in the mortality rates of some developed countries.
The disparities in the health and education are noted mostly in the racism and social
discrimination.26 If these social discriminations are not put into the proper places, it will be very
hard for the countries to move on and achieve the greatness they had once dreamed of. The
policies should be made for everyone in the country and rights should be equally distributed.
On a concluding note, this essay can be ended by saying that the concepts of social
discrimination and racism are the most crucial determinants of social structure in various
countries. The societies look to deprive people of their facilities and deprive the ethnic minorities
from different rights. Different types of social discrimination have been discussed in this essay in
the context of the people of the First Nations and the African Americans. The problems they face
and the difficulties they bear every day have been listed in the essay. It is highly important to
note that social policymakers should note these problems down and take major actions in this
scenario.
References
Assari, Shervin, and Cleopatra Howard Caldwell. "Social determinants of perceived
discrimination among black youth: Intersection of ethnicity and gender." Children 5, no. 2
(2018): 24.
Assari, Shervin. "Health disparities due to diminished return among black Americans: Public
policy solutions." Social Issues and Policy Review 12, no. 1 (2018): 112-145.
26 Berger, Maximus, and Zoltán Sarnyai. "“More than skin deep”: stress neurobiology and mental health
consequences of racial discrimination." Stress 18, no. 1 (2015): 1-10.

12POLITICAL SCEIENCE
Barr, Abigail, Tom Lane, and Daniele Nosenzo. "On the social inappropriateness of
discrimination." Journal of Public Economics 164 (2018): 153-164.
Başar, Koray, Gökhan Öz, and Jale Karakaya. "Perceived discrimination, social support, and
quality of life in gender dysphoria." The journal of sexual medicine 13, no. 7 (2016): 1133-1141.
Berger, Maximus, and Zoltán Sarnyai. "“More than skin deep”: stress neurobiology and mental
health consequences of racial discrimination." Stress 18, no. 1 (2015): 1-10.
Betton, Victoria, Rohan Borschmann, Mary Docherty, Stephen Coleman, Mark Brown, and
Claire Henderson. "The role of social media in reducing stigma and discrimination." The British
Journal of Psychiatry 206, no. 6 (2015): 443-444.
Bhugra, Dinesh. "Social discrimination and social justice." (2016): 336-341.
Bodenhausen, Galen V., C. Neil Macrae, and Jeffery W. Sherman. "On the dialectics of
discrimination: Dual processes in social stereotyping." (2016).
Dolezsar, Cynthia M., Jennifer J. McGrath, Alyssa JM Herzig, and Sydney B. Miller. "Perceived
racial discrimination and hypertension: a comprehensive systematic review." Health
Psychology 33, no. 1 (2014): 20.
Godley, Jenny. "Everyday discrimination in Canada: Prevalence and patterns." Canadian
Journal of Sociology 43, no. 2 (2018): 111-142.
Himmelstein, Mary S., Danielle M. Young, Diana T. Sanchez, and James S. Jackson. "Vigilance
in the discrimination-stress model for Black Americans." Psychology & health 30, no. 3 (2015):
253-267.

13POLITICAL SCEIENCE
Jessen, Sarah, and Tobias Grossmann. "Unconscious discrimination of social cues from eye
whites in infants." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111, no. 45 (2014): 16208-
16213.
Kielland, Norah, and Tonina Simeone. Current issues in mental health in Canada: the mental
health of First Nations and Inuit communities. Ottawa: Library of Parliament, 2014.
Lamont, Michèle, Jessica S. Welburn, and Crystal M. Fleming. "Responses to discrimination and
social resilience under neoliberalism." In New Perspectives on Resilience in Socio-Economic
Spheres, pp. 143-176. Springer VS, Wiesbaden, 2016.
Major, Brenda, and Tessa L. Dover. "Attributions to discrimination: Antecedents and
consequences." (2016).
Monk Jr, Ellis P. "Skin tone stratification among black Americans, 2001–2003." Social
Forces 92, no. 4 (2014): 1313-1337.
Reitz, Jeffrey G., Patrick Simon, and Emily Laxer. "Muslims’ social inclusion and exclusion in
France, Québec, and Canada: Does national context matter?." Journal of Ethnic and Migration
Studies 43, no. 15 (2017): 2473-2498..
Spence, Nicholas D., Samantha Wells, Kathryn Graham, and Julie George. "Racial
discrimination, cultural resilience, and stress." The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 61, no. 5
(2016): 298-307.
Unzueta, Miguel M., Benjamin A. Everly, and Angélica S. Gutiérrez. "Social dominance
orientation moderates reactions to Black and White discrimination claimants." Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology 54 (2014): 81-88.

14POLITICAL SCEIENCE
Uzogara, Ekeoma E., and James S. Jackson. "Perceived skin tone discrimination across contexts:
African American women’s reports." Race and Social Problems 8, no. 2 (2016): 147-159.