topic 5 social inequality

TOPIC 5 SOCIAL INEQUALITY

Main Reference 1:

Henslin, J. M. (2012). Sociology: A down-to-earth

approach (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Pearson.

Main Reference 2:

Schaefer, R. T. (2012). Sociology (13th

ed.). NY: McGraw-Hill.

This topic is

corresponding to:

• Chapter 9, 11, 12 &

13 [Part 3] in

Schaefer’s text; and

• Chapter 9, 10, 11,

12 & 13 [Part 3] in

Henslin’s text.

5.1 WHAT IS SOCIAL INEQUALITY?

5.2 SOCIAL CLASS INEQUALITY

5.3 SEX AND GENDER INEQUALITY

5.4 SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND INEQUALITY

5.5 RACIAL AND ETHNIC INEQUALITY

5.6 AGE INEQUALITY

5.7 ABLE-BODIEDNESS AND INEQUALITY

SOCIAL INEQUALITY

A condition in which members of society have

differing amounts of wealth, prestige or power

• Some degree of inequality characterizes EVERY

society

5.1 WHAT IS SOCIAL INEQUALITY?

5.2 SOCIAL CLASS INEQUALITY

5.2.1 DEFINING STRATIFICATION AND

SOCIAL CLASS

5.2.2 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON

SOCIAL CLASS INEQUALITY

5.2.1 DEFINING STRATIFICATION AND SOCIAL CLASS

STRATIFICATION

A structured ranking of entire groups of

people that perpetuates unequal

economic rewards and power in a society

• EVERY society stratifies its members

• Social stratification is universal

• Stratification

producing groups of

people arranged in

rank order or

hierarchy, from low

to high

• These groups of

people are social

classes whose

members have

similar economic

resources

CLASS SYSTEM

A social ranking based primarily on economic

position, or the possession of money or material

possessions

SOCIAL MOBILITY

The movement of individuals or groups from one

position in a society’s stratification system to

another

Movement up or down the social class ladder

• Social class inequality is also known as economic

inequality

5.2.2 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL CLASS INEQUALITY

KARL MARX: THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION

MAX WEBER: PROPERTY, PRESTIGE, & POWER

OTHER VIEWS

KARL MARX: THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION

• Marx concluded that social class depends on a

single factor - the means of production

MEANS OF PRODUCTION

The tools, factories, land, and investment

capital used to produce wealth

BOURGEOISIE

Marx term’s for capitalists, those who own the

means of production and exploit the working class

PROLETARIAT

Marx term’s for the exploited class, the mass of

workers who do not own the means of

production

• Based on such economic inequality, Karl Marx

distinguished between two groups of people:

• In capitalist

societies,

bourgeoisie

maximize profit in

competition with

other firms and in

the process, exploit

worker who must

exchange their

labor for

subsistence wages

MAX WEBER: PROPERTY, PRESTIGE, & POWER

• Unlike Karl Marx, Max Weber insisted NO single

characteristic totally defines a person’s position

within the stratification system

• However, Max Weber argues that there are 3

components in social class:

property (or class/wealth)

power

prestige (or status)

FACTORS OF

SOCIAL INEQUALITY DESCRIPTION

Property / Class / Wealth

Ownership of property, including

incomes and wealth;

An important source of power and

prestige (in the form of achievement)

Prestige / Status

Gains of desirable social status;

Its gains can be based on wealth, power

or simply achievement

Power

Ability to control others, even to their

objections;

Some powerful people do not own

property – e.g. Mother Teresa

• Each factor influences the other two and they are interrelated

1. Identify which of the following social inequalities are the

results of either differing property, power OR prestige:

a) A gold medalist in Olympic Games versus a fifth place

contestant

b) A billionaire in Forbes 500 Richest People versus a

homeless child in the street of Bangladesh

c) A supervisor who has the right to dismiss a worker

versus a worker who works illegally without insurance

coverage and other benefits

Exercise 5.1

• Stratification is closely linked to social status,

either through ascribed status or achieved status

1. Identify which of the following stratifications are due to ascribed

status OR achieved status?

a) A girl who is born as a slave

b) A divorcer who is infidel

c) A disabled who got his legs amputated

d) A boss who inherited his coffee shop business from his father

e) An entrepreneur who makes successful investment

f) An ex-convict who works as construction worker

Exercise 5.2

OTHER VIEWS

5.3 SEX AND GENDER INEQUALITY

5.3.1 DEFINING SEX AND GENDER


SEX AND GENDER INEQUALITY

5.3.1 DEFINING SEX AND GENDER

SEX

Biological characteristics that distinguish females

and males, consisting of primary (reproductive

organs) and secondary sex characteristics

(physical distinction NOT related to reproductive

organs)

• Gender is a master status

GENDER

The behaviours and attitudes that a society

considers proper for its males and

females – masculinity and femininity

GENDER ROLES

Expectations regarding the proper

behaviors, attitudes and activities of

males and females

• Sex is biologically assigned while gender is

culturally learned

• From a sociological perspective, biology alone

does NOT determine gender identity, but rather

it is a mixture of biology and socialization

• Gender roles sort us into different life

experiences

• We learn about gender roles since we are

young from our culture

Male / Boy / Man Female / Girl / Woman

Pink color

Active and dominant

Gentle

Tough and rational

Likes male, boy or man

Taller, older, bigger-built

As a nurturer and taking care

of household affairs

Bold and brave

Exercise 5.3

• Fill in the blanks according to your culture

5.3.2 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SEX AND GENDER

INEQUALITY

FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE

FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE

INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE

CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE


• Talcott Parsons and Robert Bales contended that

women take the expressive, emotionally supportive

role and men the instrumental, practical role, with

the two complementing each other

• These theorists did not explicitly endorse traditional

gender roles, but they implied that dividing tasks

between spouses are functional for the family as

a unit – sexual division of labor

EXPRESSIVENESS

Concern for the maintenance of harmony

and the internal emotional affairs of the

family

INSTRUMENTALITY

Emphasis on tasks, a focus on more distant

goals, and a concern for the external

relationship between one’s family and other

social institution


• Gender is a basis for making people unequal

• Gender differences is a reflection of the

subjugation of one group (women) by another

group (men)

• Men may originally have become powerful in

preindustrial times because their size, physical

strength, and freedom from childbearing duties

allowed them to dominate women physically

Exercise 5.4

• Identify and define

the so-called men’s

works and women’s

works

• Yet, in contemporary societies, cultural beliefs about

the sexes are still long established that places

males in controlling position

• Men’s work is uniformly valued while women’s work

is devalued

FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE

SEXISM

Sexism is the ideology that one sex is

superior than other, generally used to refer

to male prejudice and discrimination

against women

• Women are generally the victims of sexism

• Women suffer from both individual acts of sexism

(e.g. sexist remarks and acts of violence) and

institutional sexism

• Sexism is a form of discrimination

INSTITUTIONAL DISCRIMINATION

The denial of opportunities and equal rights

to individuals and groups that results from

the normal operations of a society

GLASS CEILING

An invisible barrier that blocks

the promotion of a qualified

individual in a work

environment because of the

individual’s gender, race or

ethnicity

• Factors contributing toward glass ceiling:

continuous role conflict between the demands

at the office and the family role

women do NOT have the required mobility, as

in many cases the man follows the job and the

woman follows the man and not the other way

around

Women may be content to cling on to the

career ladder rather than pushing hard enough

to move up it

• Women are always

less preferable by

employers because

they are perceived to

have less skilled and

immobile as

compared to men

• For women who

successfully enter the

labor market, they often

receive lower wages

than their male

counterparts do


• People actively reshape and redefine

gender roles, either strengthening or

changing them

• We “do gender” (strengthening gender)

by reinforcing traditionally masculine and

feminine actions

• We challenge traditional gender roles by

“redoing gender” (changing gender)

5.4 SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND

INEQUALITY

5.4.1 DEFINING SEXUAL ORIENTATION


SEXUAL ORIENTATION INEQUALITY

5.4.1 DEFINING SEXUAL ORIENTATION

• Social science research on human sexual behavior

indicates that both men and women occupy places on

a broad spectrum in term of their sexual interests

and practices, and culturally relativist

• The terms “homosexual” and “heterosexual” are

arbitrary categories

HETEROSEXUAL HOMOSEXUAL CONTINUUM

• The concept of homosexuality emerged largely as

a result of the medical profession’s claim to have

“scientifically” established that such behaviors was

abnormal and pathological, engaged in only by

persons who were a separate and different human

type

• Yet, until today, NO one has yet been able to

definitely establish any biological or psychological

trait (apart from sexual orientation) that differentiate

homosexuals from anyone else

5.4.2 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION

INEQUALITY



• Homophobia contributes significantly to rigid

gender role socialization, since many people

stereotypically associate male homosexuality

with femininity while lesbianism with

masculinity

HOMOPHOBIA

Fear of and prejudice against homosexuality


• Men and women who deviate from traditional

expectations about gender roles are often

presumed to be gay, even though this is NOT

always correct

• Violations against gender roles may result in

negative sanctions, from casual treatments like

frowns, stares and curses to humiliations and

criticisms to severe reactions like shunning,

bullying and worse, murders (hate crime)!

• Why the difference?

It’s

hilarious

and funny!

It’s

disgusting!

Exercise 5.5

• Heterosexism may lead to prejudice, stereotype and

discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual,

transgender, transsexual, intersexual, asexual etc.

HETEROSEXISM

An ideology which holds that homosexuality is

unnatural and immoral


• Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender

(“LGBT”) community in Malaysia face numerous hardships,

including:

a) a lack of personal safety due to harassment by civil and

Syariah authorities;

b) living in fear of prosecution for the private acts of

consenting adults; and

c) constantly facing public discrimination and denigration

• The government refuses to consider repeal of article 377B

of the penal code, which criminalizes consensual “carnal

intercourse against the order of nature,” or to replace article

377C on non-consensual sexual acts with a modern, gender-

neutral law on rape

• LGBT are perennially

at the receiving end

of negative

innuendo and hate

speech in the

mainstream media,

which is seemingly

tolerated by the

authorities

5.5 RACIAL AND ETHNIC INEQUALITY

5.5.1 DEFINING RACIAL GROUP AND

ETHNIC GROUP


RACIAL AND ETHNIC INEQUALITY

5.5.1 DEFINING RACIAL GROUP AND ETHNIC GROUP

RACIAL GROUP

A group that is set apart from others because of

physical differences that have taken on social

significance

ETHNIC GROUP

A group that is set apart from others because of its

national origin or distinctive cultural patterns

• Although such groupings are convenient, they

serve to obscure differences within ethnic

categories, as well as overlook the mixed

ancestry of so many people in Malaysia

• Who are the Malays,

Chinese, Indians, Orang

Asli, Orang Iban and

Orang Kadazandusun?

Discuss.

Exercise 5.6

DOMINANT GROUP

The group with the most power, greatest

privileges, and highest social status

MINORITY GROUPS

A subordinate group whose members have

significantly less control or power over their

lives than the members of a dominant group or

majority have over theirs

FIVE BASIC PROPERTIES OF A MINORITY GROUP ACCORDING

TO CHARLES WAGLEY AND MARVIN HARRIS (1958)

1. Membership is an ascribed status and involuntary

2. The physical or cultural traits that distinguish minorities are

held in low esteem by the dominant group

3. Minorities are unequally treated by the dominant group

4. Minorities tend to marry within their own group

5. Minorities tend to feel strong group solidarity (a sense of “we-

ness”)

5.5.2 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON RACIAL AND ETHNIC

INEQUALITY



ETHNOCENTRISM

The tendency to assume that one’s culture and way of

life represent the norm or are superior to all others

RACISM

The beliefs that one race is supreme and all others are

innately inferior

• Both ethnocentrism and racism are racial prejudice and

discrimination

PREJUDICE

A negative attitude toward an entire category of

people, often an ethnic or racial minority

DISCRIMINATION

The denial of opportunities and equal rights to

individuals and groups because of prejudice or

other arbitrary reasons

• Although prejudice and discrimination are generally

related, they are NOT identical and either condition

can be present without the other

Exercise 5.7

1. Identify which of the following shows prejudice or

discrimination:

a) A job application by a Malay who cannot speak

Cantonese has been rejected by a Chinese company

which has business in Klang Valley and Hong Kong

b) A Malay entrepreneur is skeptical against the influx of

illegal immigrants but still hires a few Indonesians to

work in his factories due to their low wages

• Prejudice and discrimination lead

to the exploitation of indigenous

people in Malaysia when they are

forced to give up their traditional or

customary land

• Discrimination and inequality lead to the

introduction of affirmative action

• In Malaysia, the beneficiaries of such affirmative

action are the Malays and indigenous people in

Sabah and Sarawak

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Positive efforts to recruit minority group

members or women for jobs, promotions,

and educational opportunities

Reservation / Quota for Malays or Indigenous People

in Sabah and Sarawak

Public Service

(a) Scholarships;

(b) the Number of Places offered in any Tertiary Educational Institution;

(c) Educational or Training Privileges or Special Facilities

Permit or License for the

Operation of any Trade or

Business

Federal

Constitution

of Malaysia

• Many people resent these

programs, arguing that

advancing one group’s cause

merely shifts the

discrimination to another

group

• Various individual or groups

actually benefit from racial and

ethnic discrimination in terms

of money, status, and influence

and they will NOT surrender

such benefits easily

• Resentment against affirmative

action led Indian Malaysians

to organize HINDRAF rally in

2007 involving some 30,000

protesters

5.6 AGE INEQUALITY

5.6.1 DEFINING AGE AND AGING


AGE INEQUALITY

5.6.1 DEFINING AGE AND AGING

• “Being old” is a master status and it has a major

impact on how others perceive them, and even

on how they view themselves

• All of us who live long enough will eventually

assume the ascribed status of an older person

• The age at which people are considered old

depends NOT on biology, but on culture

• One society may treat older people with great

reverence, while another sees them as

unproductive and “difficult”

AGING

The combination of biological, psychological

and social processes that affect people as

they grow older

5.6.2 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON AGE INEQUALITY




FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE:

DISENGAGEMENT THEORY

The view that society is stabilized by having

the elderly retire (disengage from) their

positions of responsibility so the

younger generation can step into their

shoes

• Elaine Cumming and William Henry (1961)

suggests that society and the aging individual

mutually sever many of their relationships

• The approach of death forces people to drop

most of their social roles

• The aging person withdraws into an increasing

state of inactivity while preparing for death

Exercise 5.8

1. Identify the social

roles that will be

dropped by the

elderly when they are

faced with the

approach of death

2. What are the

examples of inactivity

involving the elderly?

INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE:

ACTIVITY THEORY

Elderly people who remain active and

socially involved will be best adjusted

Satisfaction during old age is related to a

person’s amount and quality of activity

• This theory is often seen as an opposing

approach to Disengagement Theory

• Retirement NO longer means an end to work,

but shorter, temporary, part-timed, contract-based

works or working from home

• Among those who decline in their mental

capacities later in life, deteriorations is most

rapid in those who withdraw from social

relationships and activities

LABELING THEORY ON AGE

A study on the social construction and

social perception of “old age”

• The factors spur people to apply the label of “old”

to others or themselves are:

biology

personal history or biography

gender age

timetables or signals from society


• In Malaysian society, old age typically corresponds

to the retirement age (fixed at 60 years old since

2012) for many workers, when they are perceived

as “too old to work anymore”

• However, if 65 years old is to be regarded as the

beginning of old age, then it is estimated that they

are 5.1% (male 704,898/female 788,384) of the

total population

GRAYING

The growing percentage of older people in

the population

• Graying cost a lot to government budget when

aging population getting more than their fair

share of society’s resources, mostly in health

care sector and social care and support

• It present an intergenerational competition and

conflict

• “Although EPF savings is

one of the main channels

to provide for retirement,

99.9% of the contributors

would withdraw their EPF

savings in one lump sum

once they reach 55 years

of age and 70% of them

would use up all their

EPF savings in just

three years post-

retirement”

5.7 ABLE-BODIEDNESS AND

INEQUALITY

5.7.1 DEFINING DISABILITY AND ABLE-

BODIEDNESS


ABLE-BODIEDNESS INEQUALITY

5.7.1 DEFINING DISABILITY AND ABLE-BODIEDNESS

DISABILITY

Any long term physical, mental, intellectual or

sensory impairments which may hinder full and

effective participation in society

ABLE-BODIEDNESS

Without disabilities

• The types of disability include:

• Vision, hearing or speech disability;

• Physical disability;

• Learning problems;

• Mental illness; and

• Multiple disabilities

• Impairment arise from a variety of causes: illness,

disease, accidents, environmental hazards, criminal

victimization, involvement in war, or problems

associated with prenatal development or birth

5.7.2 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ABLE-BODIEDNESS

INEQUALITY




ABLEISM

A system that treats people with disabilities as if

they are defective, unwhole, or less than full

human beings

• The disability becomes a master status, one that

carries a stigma, signifying doubt as to a person’s

social worth

• People with disabilities are viewed as if they are

members of some other “species”

• Ableism suggests that this “separate species” is

childlike in nature, as they are assumed to have

the characteristics of:

helplessness

dependency

inability to take responsibility; and

need for guidance

Exercise 5.9

1. Which types of

disability are

more likely to be

stigmatized

compare to the

others?

• The OKU community in

Malaysia continues to face

numerous hardships and

challenges in their daily lives


• Many people are afraid of people with

disabilities, as they avoid eye contact and

minimize interaction

• Avoidance can be a way of protecting oneself

from the unknown and from the fear of

embarrassing or stressful social errors that

might arise during interactions with people with

disabilities

SUMMARY

TOPIC 5 SOCIAL INEQUALITY

Sociologists seek to understand how people are stratified or ranked on a scale of social worth and how that ranking affects life chance;

Social inequality is a condition in which members of society have differing amounts of wealth, prestige or power

Class system is a social ranking based primarily on economic position, or the possession of money or material possessions;

Marx concluded that social class depends on a single factor - the means of production while Weber argues that property, prestige and power are the components in social class

Sex is biologically assigned while gender is culturally learned; Gender roles are a set of expectations regarding the proper behaviors, attitudes and activities of males and females;

Heterosexism is an ideology which holds that homosexuality is unnatural and immoral

Racial groups are distinguished by physical differences while ethnic groups are distinguished by national origin or distinctive cultural patterns; Dominant groups have more power and wealth, and enjoys higher prestige compared to minority groups; Racism is the beliefs that one race is supreme and all others are innately inferior

Aging is the combination of biological, psychological and social processes that affect people as they grow older;

Disability is any long term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which may hinder full and effective participation in society; Ableism is a system that treats people with disabilities as if they are defective, unwhole, or less than full human beings

topic 5 social inequality

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