What does inequality mean and why did it appear. The problem of social inequality and ways to solve it

Social inequality is a consequence of the uneven access of members of society to spiritual and material resource, which leads to the stratification of this and the formation of a vertical hierarchy. People at different levels of the hierarchy have unequal life chances in realizing their aspirations and needs. Any society is structured in one way or another: according to national, geographical, gender, demographic or other characteristics. However, social inequality has a completely unique

nature. Its main source is the development of civilization itself, existing in the form of society.

Causes of social inequality

Every society in human history has been characterized by the specialization of its members. This fact alone gives rise to social inequality in the long term, since sooner or later specialization leads to a difference between more and less demanded forms of activity. Thus, in the most primitive societies, shaman healers and warriors had the highest status. Usually the best of them became the heads of the tribe or people. However, such differentiation does not yet imply mandatory support wealth. In a primitive society, social inequality is not at all the result of material stratification, since trade relations themselves did not yet matter. However, the fundamental reason remains the same - specialization. IN modern society in a privileged position are, for example, people who

creating a cultural product - film actors, television presenters, professional athletes and others.

Inequality criteria

As we have already seen in the example of primitive societies, social inequality can be expressed not only in material conditions. And history knows many such examples. So, for medieval Europe, an extremely important factor in social status was pedigree. Only one noble origin determined a high status in society, regardless of wealth. At the same time, the countries of the East hardly knew such a class-hierarchical model. All subjects of the state - viziers and peasants - were the same slaves in the face of the sovereign, whose status came from the simple fact of power. Sociologist Max Weber identified three possible criteria for inequality:

Thus, the difference in income, social respect and honor, as well as the number of subordinates, depending on the value orientations of society, can affect the final result in different ways. public status person.

Social inequality coefficient

Over the past two hundred years, there have been disputes among economists and sociologists about the degree of stratification in a particular society. Thus, according to Vilfredo Pareto, the ratio of the poor to the rich is a constant value. In contrast, the teaching of Marxism testifies that there is a constant increase in social differentiation - the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer. However, the practical experience of the twentieth century has shown that if such increasing stratification does occur, it makes society unstable and ultimately leads to social upheaval.

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INTRODUCTION

Among the most important theoretical problems of sociology is the problem of social inequality. Social inequality has existed throughout human history.

All developed societies are characterized by an unequal distribution of material and spiritual wealth, rewards and opportunities. Social inequality can be generated by people's belonging to certain social, professional and socio-demographic groups. Even natural genetic or physical differences between people can cause unequal relationships.

In all ages, many scientists have thought about the nature of relations between people, about the plight of most people, about the problem of the oppressed and the oppressors, about the justice or injustice of inequality. Even the ancient philosopher Plato reflected on the stratification of people into rich and poor. He believed that the state is, as it were, two states. One is the poor, the other is the rich, and they all live together, plotting each other all sorts of intrigues. In such a society, people are haunted by fear and uncertainty. A healthy society must be different.

1. Social inequality

Social inequality is a form of social differentiation in which certain individuals, social groups strata, classes are at different levels of the vertical social hierarchy and have unequal life chances and opportunities to meet needs.

In its most general form, inequality means that people live in conditions in which they have unequal access to limited resources of material and spiritual consumption.

Fulfilling qualitatively unequal working conditions, satisfying social needs to varying degrees, people sometimes find themselves engaged in economically heterogeneous labor, because such types of labor have a different assessment of their social utility. Considering the dissatisfaction of members of society with the existing system of distribution of power, property and conditions for individual development, one must still keep in mind the universality of people's inequality.

The main mechanisms of social inequality are the relations of property, power (domination and subordination), social (i.e., socially fixed and hierarchized) division of labor, as well as uncontrolled, spontaneous social differentiation. These mechanisms are mainly associated with the features market economy, with inevitable competition (including in the labor market) and unemployment. Social inequality is perceived and experienced by many people (primarily the unemployed, economic migrants, those who are at or below the poverty line) as a manifestation of injustice. Social inequality, property stratification of society, as a rule, lead to an increase in social tension, especially in the transition period. This is what is characteristic of Russia today.

2. Essence of social inequality

The essence of social inequality lies in the unequal access of different categories of the population to socially significant benefits, scarce resources, and liquid values. The essence of economic inequality is that a minority of the population always owns most of the national wealth. In other words, the smallest part of society receives the highest incomes, and the majority of the population receives the average and the smallest.

Inequality characterizes society as a whole, poverty characterizes only part of the population. Depending on the level of economic development of the country, poverty covers a significant or insignificant part of the population.

To measure the scale of poverty, sociologists identify specific gravity that portion of a country's population (usually expressed as a percentage) that lives near the official poverty line, or threshold. The terms “poverty rate”, “poverty line” and “poverty ratio” are also used to indicate the scale of poverty.

The poverty threshold is the amount of money (usually expressed, for example, in dollars or rubles) officially set as the minimum income that an individual or family needs only to buy food, clothing and housing. It is also called the "poverty level". In Russia, he received an additional name - living wage.

Sociology distinguishes between absolute and relative poverty.

Absolute poverty is understood as such a state in which an individual is not able to satisfy even the basic needs for food, housing, clothing, warmth, or is able to satisfy only the minimum needs that ensure biological survival on his income. The numerical criterion here is the poverty threshold (living wage).

Relative poverty is understood as the inability to maintain a decent standard of living, or some standard of living accepted in a given society. Typically, relative poverty is less than half the average household income in a given country. Relative poverty indicates how poor a particular individual or family is compared to other people. It is a comparative characteristic in two parameters. First, it shows that a person (family) is poor in relation to the abundance or prosperity that other members of society who are not considered poor have. The first meaning of relative poverty is the comparison of one stratum with other strata or strata. Secondly, it shows that a person (family) is poor in relation to some standard of living, for example, the standard of a decent, or befitting, life.

The lower limit of relative poverty is the subsistence minimum or the poverty threshold, and the upper limit is the so-called decent standard of living. A decent standard of living reflects the amount of material wealth that allows a person to satisfy all reasonable needs, lead a fairly comfortable lifestyle, and not feel disadvantaged.

A level of decent or “normal” life that is universal for all strata and social groups simply does not exist. For each class and category of the population, it has its own, and the range of values is very significant.

3. Causes of social inequality

Functionalism explains inequality based on the differentiation of social functions performed by different strata, classes, and communities. The functioning and development of society is possible only thanks to the division of labor, when each social group carries out the solution of the corresponding vital tasks for the entire integrity: some are engaged in the production of material goods, others create spiritual values, others manage, etc. For the normal functioning of society, an optimal combination of all species human activity. Some of them are more important, others are less. So, on the basis of the hierarchy of social functions, a corresponding hierarchy of classes, layers that perform them is formed. Those who carry out the general leadership and administration of the country are invariably placed at the top of the social ladder, for only they can support and ensure the unity of society, create the necessary conditions for the successful performance of other functions.

Observations of the actions and behavior of specific individuals gave impetus to the development of a status explanation of social inequality. Each person, occupying a certain place in society, acquires his own status. Social inequality is an inequality of status arising both from the ability of individuals to perform a particular social role (for example, to be competent to manage, to have the appropriate knowledge and skills to be a doctor, lawyer, etc.), and from the opportunities allowing a person to achieve one or another position in society (ownership of property, capital, origin, belonging to influential political forces).

Consider an economic view of the problem. In accordance with this point of view, the root cause of social inequality lies in the unequal attitude to property, the distribution of material wealth. This approach manifested itself most clearly in Marxism. According to him, it was the emergence of private property that led to the social stratification of society, the formation of antagonistic classes. The exaggeration of the role of private property in the social stratification of society led Marx and his followers to the conclusion that it is possible to eliminate social inequality by establishing public ownership of the means of production.

The lack of a unified approach to explaining the origins of social inequality is due to the fact that it is always perceived at least at two levels. First, as a property of society. Written history knows no societies without social inequality. The struggle of people, parties, groups, classes is a struggle for the possession of greater social opportunities, advantages and privileges. If inequality is an inherent property of society, then it carries a positive functional load. Society reproduces inequality because it needs it as a source of life support and development.

Secondly, inequality is always perceived as unequal relations between people, groups. Therefore, it becomes natural to seek to find the origins of this unequal position in the peculiarities of a person's position in society: in the possession of property, power, in the personal qualities of individuals. This approach is now widely used.

Inequality has many faces and manifests itself in various parts of a single social organism: in the family, in an institution, at an enterprise, in small and large social groups. It is necessary condition organizations social life. Parents, having an advantage in experience, skills, and financial resources in comparison with their young children, have the opportunity to influence the latter, facilitating their socialization. The functioning of any enterprise is carried out on the basis of the division of labor into managerial and subordinate-executive. The appearance of a leader in the team helps to unite it, turn it into a stable formation, but at the same time it is accompanied by the granting of special rights to the leader.

4. Types of social inequality

We can distinguish inequality on a number of grounds:

I) Inequality based on physical characteristics, which can be divided into three types of inequalities: 1) Inequality based on physical differences; 2) Sexual inequality; 3) Age inequality;

The reasons for the first inequality include belonging to any race, nationality, a certain height, fullness or thinness of the body, hair color, and even blood type. Very often, the distribution of social benefits in a society depends on some physical characteristic. Inequality is especially pronounced if the carrier of the trait is included in the “minority group”. Very often a minority group is discriminated against. One type of this inequality is "racism". Some sociologists believe that the cause of ethnic inequality is economic competition. Proponents of this approach emphasize the role of competition between groups of workers for scarce jobs. People who have jobs (especially those in lower positions) feel threatened by those who seek them. When the latter are members of ethnic groups, hostility may arise or intensify. Also, one of the reasons for the inequality of ethnic inequality can be considered personal qualities individual, showing which he considers another race inferior.

It is mainly gender roles and sexual roles that lead to sexual inequality. Basically, gender differences lead to inequality in the economic environment. Women have much less chance in life to participate in the distribution of social benefits, from ancient India in which girls were simply killed to a modern society in which it is difficult for women to find work. This is connected, first of all, with sexual roles - a man's place at work, a woman's place at home.

The type of inequality associated with age is mainly manifested in different life chances of different age groups. Basically, it manifests itself in young and in retirement age. Age inequality always concerns all of us.

II) Inequality due to differences in prescribed statuses

Prescribed (ascriptive) status includes inherited factors: race, nationality, age, sex, place of birth, residence, marital status, some aspects of parents. Very often, the prescribed statuses of a person interfere with the vertical mobility of a person, due to discrimination in society. This type of inequality includes a large number of aspects, so it often leads to social inequality.

III) Inequality Based on Ownership of Wealth

IV) Inequality based on the tenure of power

V) Inequality of prestige

VI) Cultural-symbolic inequality.

3.1 Social classes

Although social class is one of the central concepts in sociology, scientists still do not have a single point of view regarding the content of this concept. For the first time we find a detailed picture of class society in the works of K. Marx. It can be said that Marx's social classes are economically determined and genetically conflicting groups. The basis of division into groups is the presence or absence of property. The feudal lord and the serf in a feudal society, the bourgeois and the proletarian in a capitalist society are antagonistic classes that inevitably appear in any society that has a complex hierarchical structure based on inequality.

Despite the revision, from the point of view of modern society, of many provisions of the class theory of K. Max, some of his ideas remain relevant in relation to the currently existing social structures. This primarily applies to situations of interclass conflicts, clashes, and class struggle to change the conditions for the distribution of resources. In this regard, Marx's teaching on the class struggle currently has a large number of followers among sociologists and political scientists in many countries of the world.

Description of work

The author analyzes Various types social inequality, highlighting the specifics of inequality in education. State the main difference between inequality determined by education and other types of inequality. Based on the text, knowledge of the social science course, the facts of public life, give three other manifestations of inequality in modern society.

Read the text and complete tasks 21-24.

Education as social institution Education in modern countries is a very wide and highly developed differentiated multi-level social systems (subsystems of society) of continuous improvement of the knowledge and skills of members of society, which play an important role in the socialization of the individual, its preparation for obtaining a particular social status and the performance of appropriate roles, in stabilization, integration and improvement public systems. Education plays a very important role in determining the social status of the individual, in the reproduction and development social structure society, in maintaining social order and stability, implementation social control.

Education, along with the army, the church and industry, is one of the elevators social mobility. Having received knowledge and high qualifications in modern society, it is much easier to make a career than a) it was in pre-industrial and industrial society, b) if a person did not possess them.

For a long time and to this day, education as a social institution has been the main mechanism for social testing, selection and distribution of individuals by social strata and groups. The education system was entrusted with the functions of social control over the processes of intellectual, moral, and physical development of the younger generation. And on the system vocational education In addition, there are also functions of control over the distribution of the generation entering independent labor life into various cells of the social structure of society: classes, social groups, strata, production teams.

Thus, education is one of the main channels of social mobility, playing important role V social differentiation members of society, their distribution both among social strata and within these strata. The position of an individual in society, the opportunities for his successful promotion up the career ladder are determined by the quality of the education received, which is largely related to the prestige of the educational institution.

The way it is. An uneducated person cannot get a highly paid and responsible job, no matter what. social background he neither was. The educated and the uneducated have unequal life chances, but the situation can always be corrected by improving one's qualifications, one has only to apply individual conditions. What distinguishes inequality in the field of education from other types of inequality, say, inherited, is that it puts a person in an unprivileged position temporarily. But if you were born the son of a king or a hereditary nobleman, then this is forever. Nothing can be done about such inequalities based on prescribed statuses.

(G.E. Tadevosyan)

Explanation.

The correct answer must contain the following elements:

1) The main difference between inequality in the field of education is indicated, for example:

Inequality in the field of education depends on the will and desire of the person himself, it can be corrected by improving one's qualifications.

2) Other types of inequality that are characteristic of modern society are given, for example:

Inequality based on prescribed statuses, such as ethnicity or social origin;

Inequality based on where a person lives, whether metropolitan or provincial;

Inequality associated with the peculiarities of appearance or health status, conditions of upbringing in the family.

Other manifestations of social inequality can also be cited.

Subject area: social relations. Social stratification and mobility

What is social inequality? What are its reasons?

Answer

Social inequality- a form of differentiation in which individual individuals, social groups, strata, classes are at different levels of the vertical social hierarchy and have unequal life chances and opportunities to meet needs.

The problem of social inequality is one of the most important in modern society. Explanations of the causes of this phenomenon and its assessment are different. According to one point of view, in any society there are especially important and responsible functions. They can be performed by a limited number of gifted people. Encouraging these people to perform these functions, society gives them access to scarce goods. From this point of view, social stratification is inevitable in any society; moreover, it is useful because it ensures its normal life and development.

There is another position: social stratification is the result of an unjust social order, which is based on the appropriation by the owners of the means of production of basic goods. Supporters of such views conclude that social stratification must be eliminated, the road to this lies through the elimination of private property.

Even a superficial look at the people around us gives reason to talk about their dissimilarity. People are different by gender, age, temperament, height, hair color, intelligence level and many other features. Nature endowed one with musical abilities, the other with strength, the third with beauty, and prepared for someone the fate of a weak invalid. Differences between people, due to their physiological and mental characteristics, are called natural.

Natural differences are far from harmless, they can become the basis for the emergence of unequal relationships between individuals. The strong force the weak, the cunning triumph over the simpletons. Inequality resulting from natural differences is the first form of inequality, in one form or another manifested in some species of animals. However, in human main is social inequality, inextricably linked with social differences, social differentiation.

Social those are called differences, which generated by social factors: way of life (urban and rural population), division of labor (mental and physical labor), social roles (father, doctor, politician), etc., which leads to differences in the degree of ownership of property, income received, power, achievement, prestige, education.

Various levels social development are basis for social inequality, the emergence of rich and poor, the stratification of society, its stratification (a stratum layer that includes people with the same income, power, education, prestige).

Income- the amount of cash receipts received by a person per unit of time. It may be labor, or it may be the possession of property that “works”.

Education— a set of knowledge gained in educational institutions. Its level is measured by the number of years of study. Let's say, incomplete secondary school - 9 years. The professor has more than 20 years of education behind him.

Power- the ability to impose your will on other people, regardless of their desire. It is measured by the number of people to whom it applies.

Prestige- this is an assessment of the position of the individual in society, prevailing in public opinion.

Causes of social inequality

Can a society exist without social inequality? Apparently, in order to answer the question posed, it is necessary to understand the reasons that give rise to the unequal position of people in society. In sociology, there is no single universal explanation for this phenomenon. Various scientific and methodological schools and trends interpret it differently. We single out the most interesting and noteworthy approaches.

Functionalism explains inequality in terms of differentiation social functions performed by different layers, classes, communities. The functioning and development of society is possible only thanks to the division of labor, when each social group carries out the solution of the corresponding vital tasks for the entire integrity: some are engaged in the production of material goods, others create spiritual values, others manage, etc. For the normal functioning of society an optimal combination of all types of human activity is necessary. Some of them are more important, others less. So, on the basis of the hierarchy of social functions, a corresponding hierarchy of classes, layers is formed performing them. Those who carry out the general leadership and administration of the country are invariably placed at the top of the social ladder, for only they can support and ensure the unity of society, create the necessary conditions for the successful performance of other functions.

The explanation of social inequality by the principle of functional utility is fraught with a serious danger of a subjectivist interpretation. Indeed, why is this or that function considered as more significant, if society as an integral organism cannot exist without functional diversity. This approach does not allow explaining such realities as the recognition of an individual as belonging to the highest stratum in the absence of his direct participation in management. That is why T. Parsons, considering the social hierarchy as a necessary factor that ensures the viability social system, links its configuration with the system of dominant values in society. In his understanding, the location of social strata on the hierarchical ladder is determined by the ideas that have formed in society about the significance of each of them.

Observations of the actions and behavior of specific individuals gave impetus to the development status explanation of social inequality. Each person, occupying a certain place in society, acquires his own status. is an inequality of status, resulting both from the ability of individuals to perform one or another social role(for example, to be competent to manage, to have the appropriate knowledge and skills to be a doctor, lawyer, etc.), and from the opportunities that allow a person to achieve one or another position in society (ownership of property, capital, origin, belonging to powerful political forces).

Consider economic view to the problem. In accordance with this point of view, the root cause of social inequality lies in the unequal attitude to property, the distribution of material wealth. most brightly this approach appeared in Marxism. According to his version, the emergence of private property led to the social stratification of society, the formation antagonistic classes. The exaggeration of the role of private property in the social stratification of society led Marx and his followers to the conclusion that it is possible to eliminate social inequality by establishing public ownership of the means of production.

Secondly, inequality always perceived as unequal relations between people, groups. Therefore, it becomes natural to seek to find the origins of this unequal position in the peculiarities of a person's position in society: in the possession of property, power, in the personal qualities of individuals. This approach is now widely used.

Inequality has many faces and manifests itself in various parts of a single social organism: in the family, in an institution, at an enterprise, in small and large social groups. It is necessary condition organization of social life. Parents, having an advantage in experience, skills, financial resources compared with their young children, have the opportunity to influence the latter, facilitating their socialization. The functioning of any enterprise is carried out on the basis of the division of labor into managerial and subordinate-executive. The appearance of a leader in the team helps to unite it, turn it into a stable education, but at the same time it is accompanied by the provision leader of special rights.

Any, organization strive to save inequalities seeing in it ordering beginning, without which it is impossible reproduction social connections and integration of the new. The same property belongs to society as a whole.

Ideas about social stratification

All societies famous stories, were organized in such a way that some social groups always had a privileged position over others, which was expressed in an unequal distribution of social benefits and powers. In other words, social inequality is inherent in all societies without exception. Even the ancient philosopher Plato argued that any city, no matter how small it may be, is actually divided into two halves - one for the poor, the other for the rich, and they are at enmity with each other.

Therefore, one of the basic concepts of modern sociology is "social stratification" (from Latin stratum - layer + facio - I do). Thus, the Italian economist and sociologist V. Pareto believed that social stratification, changing in form, existed in all societies. At the same time, as the famous sociologist of the XX century believed. P. Sorokin, in any society, at any time, there is a struggle between the forces of stratification and the forces of leveling.

The concept of "stratification" came to sociology from geology, where they denote the location of the Earth's layers along a vertical line.

Under social stratification we will understand the vertical cut of the location of individuals and groups in horizontal layers (strata) according to such characteristics as income inequality, access to education, the amount of power and influence, and professional prestige.

In Russian, the analogue of this recognized concept is social stratification.

The basis of stratification is social differentiation - the process of emergence of functionally specialized institutions and division of labor. A highly developed society is characterized by a complex and differentiated structure, a diverse and rich status-role system. At the same time, some social statuses and roles are inevitably preferable and more productive for individuals, as a result of which they are more prestigious and desirable for them, and some are considered by the majority as somewhat humiliating, associated with a lack of social prestige and a low standard of living in general. It does not follow from this that all statuses that have arisen as a product of social differentiation are arranged in a hierarchical order; some of them, such as age, do not contain grounds for social inequality. Thus, the status of a young child and the status of a nursing infant are not unequal, they are simply different.

Inequality between people exists in every society. This is quite natural and logical, given that people differ in their abilities, interests, life preferences, value orientations, etc. In every society, there are poor and rich, educated and uneducated, enterprising and unenterprising, those in power and those without it. In this regard, the problem of the origin of social inequality, attitudes towards it and ways to eliminate it has always aroused increased interest, not only among thinkers and politicians, but also among ordinary people who consider social inequality as an injustice.

In history public thought The inequality of people was explained in different ways: by the original inequality of souls, divine providence, imperfection of human nature, functional necessity by analogy with the body.

German economist K. Marx linked social inequality with the emergence of private property and the struggle of interests of various classes and social groups.

German sociologist R. Dahrendorf also believed that the economic and status inequality underlying the ongoing conflict of groups and classes and the struggle for the redistribution of power and status is formed as a result of the market mechanism for regulating supply and demand.

Russian-American sociologist P. Sorokin explained the inevitability of social inequality by the following factors: internal biopsychic differences of people; environment(natural and social), objectively placing individuals in an unequal position; the joint collective life of individuals, which requires the organization of relations and behavior, which leads to the stratification of society into the ruled and the managers.

American sociologist T. Pearson explained the existence of social inequality in every society by the presence of a hierarchical system of values. For example, in American society, success in business and career is considered the main social value, therefore, scientists of technological specialties, plant directors, etc., have a higher status and income, while in Europe the dominant value is “preservation of cultural patterns”, due to what society gives special prestige to humanities intellectuals, clergymen, university professors.

Social inequality, being inevitable and necessary, manifests itself in all societies at all stages historical development; only the forms and degree of social inequality change historically. Otherwise, individuals would lose the incentive to engage in complex and laborious, dangerous or uninteresting activities, to improve their skills. With the help of inequality in income and prestige, society encourages individuals to engage in necessary, but difficult and unpleasant professions, encourages more educated and talented people, and so on.

The problem of social inequality is one of the most acute and topical in modern Russia. Feature of the social structure Russian society is a strong social polarization - the division of the population into poor and rich in the absence of a significant middle stratum, which is the basis of an economically stable and developed state. Strong social stratification, characteristic of modern Russian society, reproduces a system of inequality and injustice, in which the opportunities for independent self-realization in life and raising social status are limited for a fairly large part of the Russian population.