Title
Name
Institution
Inequality
Social stratification is defined in which people are ranked and ordered in society. In western countries, social stratification is understood as a result of socio-economic status which then produces a social hierarchy in which access and possession of resources increase their ranks from lower to higher. The term social stratification is used by sociologists to describe the system of social standing. It is done by considering race, wealth, education and power. While social inequality is the existence of unequal social opportunities or rewards for different social positions or rewards within a group or society. Social inequality results from a society that is organized by race, class, ethnicity and also gender, all these factors play a major role in the unequal distribution of resources among the population. Both of these factors play a major role in an individual's life and society as a whole. When there is inequality in a society than the resources are unevenly distributed among the individuals which result in frustration and trust issues. When there is insecurity in among the individuals than that society cannot grow, and it will be easy for outer forces to destroy it. Such societies become insecure and weak. So both these factors play a major role in determining individuals and society's life as a whole ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"QBf0gPoo","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(McLeod & Nonnemaker, 1999)","plainCitation":"(McLeod & Nonnemaker, 1999)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":573,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/38EPRZKX"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/38EPRZKX"],"itemData":{"id":573,"type":"chapter","title":"Social Stratification and Inequality","container-title":"Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health","collection-title":"Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research","publisher":"Springer US","publisher-place":"Boston, MA","page":"321-344","source":"Springer Link","event-place":"Boston, MA","abstract":"Social stratification refers to differential access to resources, power, autonomy, and status across social groups. Social stratification implies social inequality; if some groups have access to more resources than others, the distribution of those resources is inherently unequal. Societies can be stratified on any number of dimensions. In the United States, the most widely recognized stratification systems are based on race, social class, and gender.","URL":"https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-36223-1_16","ISBN":"978-0-387-36223-6","note":"DOI: 10.1007/0-387-36223-1_16","language":"en","author":[{"family":"McLeod","given":"Jane D."},{"family":"Nonnemaker","given":"James M."}],"editor":[{"family":"Aneshensel","given":"Carol S."},{"family":"Phelan","given":"Jo C."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1999"]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",1,29]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (McLeod & Nonnemaker, 1999).
The main problem in every society is inequality, it is inequality that people feel insecure, and they are unable to trust their government. Although different countries are formulizing different strategies but still the roots of inequality are so strong in today's society that it is impossible to eradicate it. The rich people are getting richer, and the poor people are getting poorer. The reason for that is mostly rich inherit their wealth from their ancestors who left a large amount of money and different assets for their younger ones. Their kids have already ample resources to support their life, and even if they do not work they will have a luxurious life, but this is not the case for the poor people. Firstly, they do not possess any belongings and their entire life, they work hard to earn a one-time meal. When they have kids, then those kids have to work extra hard to earn money and other necessities. As the rich people do not invest their money on the poor ones and the wealth becomes concentrated in only one family. Therefore, it is safe to say that inequality is inevitable. No policies and no strategies can encourage wealthy people to invest their money or wealth on lower class. Although America is a very rich country regarding resources but at the same times, inequality is present in this country as well. Money and resources are unequally distributed among different races and class ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"TmogULRM","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Sinha & Srivastava, 2007)","plainCitation":"(Sinha & Srivastava, 2007)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":574,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/5IREAWQI"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/5IREAWQI"],"itemData":{"id":574,"type":"chapter","title":"Is Inequality Inevitable in Society? Income Distribution as a Consequence of Resource Flow in Hierarchical Organizations","container-title":"Econophysics of Markets and Business Networks: Proceedings of the Econophys-Kolkata III","collection-title":"New Economic Windows","publisher":"Springer Milan","publisher-place":"Milano","page":"216-226","source":"Springer Link","event-place":"Milano","abstract":"Almost all societies, once they attain a certain level of complexity, exhibit inequality in the income of its members. Hierarchical stratification of social classes may be a major contributor to such unequal distribution of income, with intra-class variation often being negligible compared to inter-class differences. In this paper, examples from different historical periods, such as 10th century Byzantium and the Mughal empire of India in the 15th century, and different kinds of organizations, such as a criminal gang in the USA and Manufacturing & IT Services companies in India, are shown to suggest a causal relation between the hierarchical structure of social organization and the observed income inequality in societies. Proceeding from the assumption that income inequality may be a consequence of resource flow in a hierarchically structured social network, we present a model to show that empirically observed long-tailed income distribution can be explained through a process of division of assets at various levels in a hierarchical organization.","URL":"https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-0665-2_15","ISBN":"978-88-470-0665-2","note":"DOI: 10.1007/978-88-470-0665-2_15","shortTitle":"Is Inequality Inevitable in Society?","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Sinha","given":"Sitabhra"},{"family":"Srivastava","given":"Nisheeth"}],"editor":[{"family":"Chatterjee","given":"Arnab"},{"family":"Chakrabarti","given":"Bikas K."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2007"]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",1,29]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Sinha & Srivastava, 2007).
Nowadays, not only developing countries but also developed countries are facing inequalities in their societies and America is no exception. Although it is hard to believe but it is a harsh reality that inequality by race, color, and even gender exists in American society. The first thing that the American society and government can do to eradicate inequality from their society is to start practicing equality in their educational institutions. Also, the positions that possess superior advantages should be open for all applicants, be it a white or black. It should be open for all, and then all the applications must be evaluated by merit, and the application that meets the criteria should get the job opportunity. Alternatively, all the applicants must be inspected by fair competition and whoever competes successfully should be liable to that provided opportunity.
It is a known fact that societies must provide equal opportunities to its citizens to be successful but it is also true that it does not exist in every society; therefore, most of the citizens are distressed and depressed. In American society, due to the unequal distribution of resources and due to unequal job and education opportunities many problems have raised recently. And to remove all these problems, it is important for the policymakers to make this an integral point in their policies. Poverty is one of the most prominent results of inequality because the rich have all the resources and the poor have to work hard even for their necessities. To solve the problem of poverty, equal opportunities should be there for all, as America is a very diverse country where people of every age, sex and ethnicity are living ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"LG2uvdFu","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Hara, 2011)","plainCitation":"(Hara, 2011)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":575,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/2XNXK67I"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/2XNXK67I"],"itemData":{"id":575,"type":"article-journal","title":"An Overview of Social Stratification and Inequality Study in Japan: Towards a 'Mature' Society Perspective","container-title":"Asian Journal of Social Science","page":"9-29","volume":"39","issue":"1","source":"JSTOR","archive":"JSTOR","abstract":"[Sociologists in Japan began their own collection of social stratification data for the first time in 1955. This essay introduces the history of social stratification and inequality studies in Japan. With the initiative of the International Sociological Association (ISA), the Japan Sociological Society (JSS) took part in national data collection for cross-national studies in 1955. The continued project is today called the National Survey of Social Stratification and Social Mobility, or the SSM survey in Japan. How have the changing global and local economic conditions shaped the social stratification and inequality in Japan since the mid-1950s? As a result of the high economic growth in the 1960s and 1970s, Japan has achieved ' basic equality.' Despite its comparatively declined economic growth rate after that, Japans household income inequality, along with a large gender disparity in individual income, has remained relatively unchanged. With such stability, however, Japan today faces a number of social challenges. I propose to call this social stage and society itself, a maturing society. Japan today is struggling to design its new and suitable life style in the process of social maturation.]","ISSN":"1568-4849","shortTitle":"An Overview of Social Stratification and Inequality Study in Japan","author":[{"family":"Hara","given":"Junsuke"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2011"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Hara, 2011). If their religion or color will discriminate these people, then how will they play a positive role in the progress of the country. So for the development of the country, it is also very important to make equality possible.
In the past few decades, American society has seen an extraordinary rise in inequality due to racism. It was seen that no proper measures were taken by the government to erase racism. People were attacked and beaten based on their religious beliefs, language and skin tone. Even political parties were seen to win election campaign on the basis of racism. So this particular factor played a major role in the prevalence of inequality in American society ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"80NE5auN","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Aneshensel, 1992)","plainCitation":"(Aneshensel, 1992)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":576,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/SD7REYX4"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/SD7REYX4"],"itemData":{"id":576,"type":"article-journal","title":"Social Stress: Theory and Research","container-title":"Annual Review of Sociology","page":"15-38","volume":"18","issue":"1","source":"Annual Reviews","abstract":"This chapter differentiates the stressful consequences of social organization from the stressful antecedents of psychological disorder. The pivotal distinction concerns whether the occurrence of stressors is viewed as socially determined, or as independent of social placement. Recent research is evaluated concerning both the social distribution of stress and social variation in response to stress. Two particularly productive areas of inquiry are also reviewed: self-efficacy as a mediator between social position and stress; and the intersection of macro- and micro-stress processes in economic and occupational spheres, with emphasis upon gender stratification. This review concludes that the occurrence of systemic stressors is not necessarily an indication of a social system run amok but may reflect instead the system functioning precisely as it is supposed to function.","DOI":"10.1146/annurev.so.18.080192.000311","shortTitle":"Social Stress","author":[{"family":"Aneshensel","given":"Carol S."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1992"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Aneshensel, 1992). If proper measures were taken at the time when the problems were at the stage of its inception, then it would be reversed, and the situation would be much better. In order to eradicate the evil of inequality government should take strict notice. Taxes should be paid by rich people, and then it should be spent on the needy ones. Also, rich people should be encouraged to invest their money and provide job opportunities for poor people so that their living will also get better. Although these are a baby step, they can be very helpful to uproot inequality, but we have to be patient.
References
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Aneshensel, C. S. (1992). Social Stress: Theory and Research. Annual Review of Sociology, 18(1), 15–38.
Hara, J. (2011). An Overview of Social Stratification and Inequality Study in Japan: Towards a “Mature” Society Perspective. Asian Journal of Social Science, 39(1), 9–29.
McLeod, J. D., & Nonnemaker, J. M. (1999). Social Stratification and Inequality. In C. S. Aneshensel & J. C. Phelan (Eds.), Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health (pp. 321–344). Boston, MA: Springer US.
Sinha, S., & Srivastava, N. (2007). Is Inequality Inevitable in Society? Income Distribution as a Consequence of Resource Flow in Hierarchical Organizations. In A. Chatterjee & B. K. Chakrabarti (Eds.), Econophysics of Markets and Business Networks: Proceedings of the Econophys-Kolkata III (pp. 216–226). Milano: Springer Milan.
