What are the causes and consequences of social inequality and stratification?

Introduction

Social inequality and stratification are critical issues that affect various aspects of society, including health, education, and social mobility. These phenomena are influenced by multiple factors and have far-reaching consequences for individuals and communities.

Key Insights

Income Inequality and Social Problems:
- Higher income inequality is associated with increased morbidity, mortality, obesity, teenage birth rates, mental illness, homicide, low trust, low social capital, hostility, and racism.
- Societies with greater income inequality also experience poor educational performance, higher imprisonment rates, drug overdose mortality, and low social mobility.
Psychosocial and Neo-material Perspectives:
- Inequality affects individuals through psychosocial channels (status and stratification) and neo-material channels (resources available).
- Both perspectives are important and not mutually exclusive in understanding the effects of inequality on well-being and social stratification.
Power, Privilege, and Oppression:
- Social constructs such as race, ethnicity, class, and gender play significant roles in the systems of social stratification and the attainment of status.
- The workings of power, privilege, and oppression are central to understanding why inequality occurs and its consequences for different groups.
Critique of Conceptualization:
- Some analyses of social inequality, particularly those by economists and epidemiologists, may lack integration and fail to adequately distinguish between class and status.
- There is a need for a more nuanced understanding that considers both attributional (individual characteristics) and relational (social relationships) aspects of inequality.

Conclusion

Social inequality and stratification are complex issues influenced by income distribution, social constructs, and the interplay of psychosocial and material factors. Higher income inequality correlates with numerous social problems, and understanding these issues requires a comprehensive approach that considers both individual and societal dimensions. Addressing these inequalities involves recognizing the roles of power, privilege, and oppression, and integrating diverse perspectives to form a holistic understanding.

What are the causes and consequences of social inequality and stratification?

Summary

Introduction

Key Insights

Conclusion

Sources and full results

The problems of relative deprivation: why some societies do better than others.

Income inequality is central to the creation of social problems associated with poverty, relative deprivation, or low social status, and may affect the prevalence of these issues in different societies.

Social Inequality

Social inequality occurs in groups and society, with race, ethnicity, class, and gender playing key roles in power, privilege, and oppression.

Consequences of economic inequality: introduction to a special issue

Economic inequality can magnify differences in resources and their association with politics, well-being, and social stratification, affecting individuals and households.

Analysing Social Inequality: A Critique of Two Recent Contributions from Economics and Epidemiology

Social inequality studies by economists and epidemiologists are inadequate due to inadequate conceptualization, analysis, and insufficient distinction between class and status.

Economic Inequality, Family Disruption, and Urban Black Violence: Cities as Units of Stratification and Social Control

Income inequality within black communities increases family disruption, which indirectly increases violent crime rates among blacks.

The Spread of Inequality

Unequal access to resources can lead to rapid migration and displacement of egalitarian societies, rather than a change in egalitarian norms.

Social stratification and attitudes: a comparative analysis of the effects of class and education in Europe.

Class and education have no less significant impact on attitudes in more modern countries, but education has larger effects in more modern countries.

Some Principles of Stratification: A Critical Analysis

Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore's paper suggests that social inequality is not inevitable and positively functional, but rather a result of social structure and history.

Advancing the study of health inequality: Fundamental causes as systems of exposure

Studying health inequality as systems of exposure, rather than within populations, is the next frontier in understanding its fundamental causes.

Concentrated Disadvantage and Beliefs about the Causes of Poverty: A Multi-Level Analysis

Higher levels of concentrated disadvantage in communities are associated with increased support for both individualistic and structuralist explanations of poverty, fostering both sympathetic and antagonistic attitudes towards the poor.

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