Analyzing the Relationship Between Inequality and Unequal Justice

This essay delves into the intricate relationship between inequality and unequal justice, examining how socioeconomic disparities, racialized policing, and the existing wealth gap contribute to societal imbalances. It draws upon diverse disciplines, including economics, sociology, and political science, to define and analyze the causes, patterns, and consequences of social and economic inequality. The essay highlights the impact of socioeconomic factors on various groups, including racial and ethnic minorities, and discusses the historical context, including the legacy of colonization, to understand the evolution of inequality. It further explores how these inequalities manifest in areas such as labor markets, education, and access to resources, ultimately affecting people's lives and welfare. The paper emphasizes the need for policy interventions to alleviate these disparities.

Running head: INEQUALITY AND UNEQUAL JUSTICE
Relationship between Inequality and Unequal Justice
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INEQUALITY AND UNEQUAL JUSTICE
Relationship Between Inequality and Unequal Justice
Preview
The 21st century is struggling with inequality primarily related to economic inequality as
a consequence of colonization. Social inequality manifests in different forms; class, gender, state
sanctioned violence, economic exploitation, race, immigration status and sexual orientation. The
public is constantly debating, legislating and calling for judicial action per the manifestation of
these social and economic concerns. America has had a long struggle with inequality with
constant debates. Progress has been made in some areas such as racial inequality in matters
health, education, and access to housing and legal rights unlike the 1970s and 80s. On the other
hand, there has been a steady growth of economic inequality for over 40 years. Despite education
and health playing a bigger role in reversing the traditional patterns of gender inequality, some
matters remain controversial. The labor market, political and wage structures are highly affected
by gender inequality example the LGBT communities who face bias despite the effort towards
equal protection.
This paper aims at analyzing the relationship between economic inequality and unequal
justice due to racialized policing and existing wealth gap. The paper has borrowed from different
disciplines including economics, sociology, political science, psychology, history, education and
public policy to build on the definitions, causes, patterns and consequences of social and
economic inequality. Major focus is placed on the main social players that is the socioeconomic,
political, health and social cultural aspects of society. The four aspects shape people’s lives and
welfare. The existence of inequality among people helps explain the factors and processes
leading to this inequality. History has documented some of the experiences through colonization
to present including the patterns, trends and causes of economic inequality. This will help

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understand the consequences and strategies in alleviating inequality through policy formulation,
intervention and implementation.
Socioeconomic Inequality
Socioeconomic inequality is the unequal distribution of resources including money and access to
money generating avenues such as credit, human capital, social resources, information access,
technology and capital. The primary source of inequality according to research is socioeconomic
disparity. Other domains have always derived inequality from the economic systems of the
world. Among developed nations, the United States leads in income and wealth disparities. There
is a wide gap between the poor and the rich despite the high economic growth rate. 89% of the
U.S wealth is held by 20% of the households that are considered the wealthiest (Wolff 2013, p
39). Since the 1970s there has been a constant increase in income inequality because of the rise
in income from salaries, accumulated wealth, wages and investment.
Disparities in material resources can be seen in gender, racial and national origin. It has extended
to the labor markets and educational outcomes. The material wellbeing of an individual is
predicted through their family history, educational level and national origin. The black, latino
and children have been known to grow up in low income areas due to racial and socioeconomic
discrimination. These groups of people grow into adults and remain in these suburbs forming the
larger 70% of blacks as compared to only 40% of their white counterpart. The segregation is
witnessed in the provision of resources such as schools, healthcare facilities and parks.
According to the Bureau of statistics 2018, unemployment rate among black society was twice
that of their white counterparts by 2017. The median white household wealth stands at 20 times
the median of the black households. Furthermore, socioeconomic disparities are depicted across

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genders. Men are favored more than women since the 1970s where women earned only 69% of
the median weekly earnings of men. Inequality has persisted despite the improvement in earning
whereby in 2010 women were earning 81% of the weekly earnings of men. Colonization came
with structural barriers such as slavery and segregation of women that continue to build a history
of discrimination against women to the extent of being seen as a norm.