Sociological Explanation of Social Inequality

Social Inequality

There are a number of different causes of social inequality, and the sociological perspective allows for the understanding of how social inequality came about, and why it continues to persist. Social inequality is a basic starting point for organized society in the sense that as society became organized, a miniscule class of landowners held all of the wealth. As society has moved away from that highly inequitable starting position, the manner in which this has happened has promoted certain forms of inequality.

Bargaining Power

Inequality is partially economic, and partially social, but the two are linked. Economic and social power often go hand-in-hand, because control over wealthy allows for control over the means of survival. In our society, wealth was initially held by a small class of landowners. Changes to the political system spread some social power -- and through that some wealth -- to all white men. Women, African-Americans and other minorities would receive social power through changes to the political system, but these changes would come much later, and arguably remain incomplete today.

The means of economic progress are related to one's relative bargaining power in society. Some bargaining power is individual -- smarter people or those with specific in-demand skills will have bargaining power relative to their peers -- but a lot of bargaining power is societal in nature. The laws by which we presently govern ourselves still have elements of inequality. Further, many of our social structures still contain vestiges of inequality. Some of these structures manifest in our laws -- consider the lack of maternity leave and the effect that has on women's ability to pursue their careers, when society clearly orients them to lower-level jobs. The net effect is that large groups of people have lower access to the means by which they can succeed. On aggregate, when the pathway to success is tougher, the outcomes for that group of people will be weaker.

Thus, income inequality today can be traced directly to the structures that we still have in society. Social structures govern opportunity, and socio-economic structures govern bargaining power. Ultimately, social inequality is something that persists because many in our society face much greater obstacles on their path to success. One can surely find fault in the performance of some individuals, but that is little more than a red herring -- on aggregate, the data suggests a clear link between social structures of a society and its economic outcomes. Disparity in social structure results in inequality.

Conclusion