This lecture is about social inequality and what is IMPORTANT and INTERESTING about it from a sociological perspective.
Sociologists have studied social inequality RIGHT from the beginning of the discipline in the nineteenth century,
and it REMAINS a core concern today.
When sociologists study societies like Australia, they will emphasise how important it is to notice that not everyone is the same
and that there are important differences between people.
Some people are very rich, some are quite well off, and others are poor.
Some people seem to have a lot of control over their lives, others seem to have much less control.
Some people are regarded as very important in society, and others are regarded as not very important at all.
Sociologists think of many of these differences as varying forms of social inequality.
You’ve probably heard of the concept of ‘the 1%’, and this draws attention to how small the first of
each of these groups is, and how large – 99% - the second group is.
Social inequality can be defined in at least two different ways.
First, it can be defined as differential access to valued resources and opportunities in society.
These resources might include things like wealth, property, skills, qualifications and social networks.
Opportunities might include things like access to education, employment, health care or legal assistance.
Second, social inequality can be defined more specifically as differential access to wealth, power and prestige.
Inequalities in wealth can refer to things like bank deposits, share ownership, property ownership and material possessions.
Inequalities in power can refer to differences between people in their ability to achieve their objectives in life.
And inequalities in prestige refer to the differences between individuals in the social honour or status
which they are accorded in society.
The main aim of the sociological analysis of social inequality is to understand the causes, nature and consequences of inequality,
as well as how people affected by inequality understand and respond to it.
When it comes to studying the causes of inequality, in sociology one generally rejects the
idea that nature, biology or genetic differences are the main causes of inequality between people.
Instead, inequality is seen as the result of social, economic and political factors and processes.
When it comes to the nature of inequality, the focus is on the different types of inequality that exist,
the extent of those inequalities, and whether, and in what ways, they change over time.
In relation to studying the consequences of inequality, the focus is on the way that advantage or disadvantage affects the different aspects of
people’s lives, their relationships with others, and the society as a whole.
For example, large inequalities in society, and people’s resentment about them, can lead to conflict, struggle and attempts to change or
maintain the existing social order.
Or it can lead to depression, stress and anxiety, if one’s social position is attributed to one’s personal failings.
Finally, people who experience inequality generally have their own understanding of it,
and an important part of sociological analysis is to find out what people think about it.
Do people think inequality is important? Do they think it is a good thing or a bad thing?
Do they think it is natural, or their own fault, or the effect of social processes and structures?
Do they think it is permanent, or something that can be changed?
Understanding people’s beliefs is an important task, because those beliefs often provide a basis for people’s actions.
It can help us to understand why some people feel fatalistic about inequality - that it can’t be changed - so they simply learn to live with it.
On the other hand, we can learn why other people might feel optimistic about reducing inequality
so that they struggle in their lives toward this goal.
The way in which inequality is experienced and understood at a personal and emotional level is sociologically important,
because it will affect how different kinds of inequality change or remain stable over time.