Sociology · Ch 4 — Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion
What Is Social About Social Inequality and Exclusion?
What Is Social About Social Inequality and Exclusion?
What Is Social About Social Inequality and Exclusion?
Social inequality and exclusion are not just about individuals or money. They are fundamentally social in three distinct ways.
First, they are about groups, not individuals. A person is not unequal or excluded alone — they are treated a certain way because they belong to a particular caste, class, gender, religion, or community. Second, although social and economic inequality are closely linked, social inequality is not the same as economic inequality. A person may be wealthy yet still face discrimination based on their caste or religion. Third, social inequality is systematic and structured — it follows a definite pattern, not random chance. These three meanings of the 'social' are explored below.
Social Inequality
In every society, some people have a greater share of valued resources than others. These resources include money, property, education, health, and power. Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu classified them into three forms of capital:
- Economic capital — material assets and income
- Cultural capital — educational qualifications, knowledge, and social status
- Social capital — networks of contacts, relationships, and social associations
These three forms often overlap and can be converted into one another. For example, a person from a well-off family (economic capital) can afford expensive higher education and thus acquire cultural capital. Someone with influential relatives or friends (social capital) may get access to good advice, recommendations, or job information, helping them secure a well-paid job.
Patterns of unequal access to these social resources are called social inequality. Some inequality does reflect innate individual differences — varying abilities and efforts. A person may be exceptionally intelligent or talented, or may have worked very hard to achieve wealth and status. However, by and large, social inequality is not the outcome of innate or 'natural' differences between people. It is produced by the society in which they live.
Social Stratification
Sociologists use the term social stratification to refer to a system by which categories of people in a society are ranked in a hierarchy. This hierarchy shapes people's identity and experiences, their relations with others, and their access to resources and opportunities.
Three key principles help explain social stratification:
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Social stratification is a characteristic of society, not simply a function of individual differences. It is a society-wide system that unequally distributes social resources among categories of people. In the most technologically primitive societies — hunting and gathering societies, for instance — little was produced, so only rudimentary stratification could exist. In more technologically advanced societies where people produce a surplus over and above their basic needs, social resources are unequally distributed to various social categories regardless of people's innate individual abilities.
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Social stratification persists over generations. It is closely linked to the family and to the inheritance of social resources from one generation to the next. A person's social position is ascribed — children assume the social positions of their parents. Within the caste system, birth dictates occupational opportunities. This ascribed aspect is reinforced by endogamy — marriage is usually restricted to members of the same caste, ruling out the possibility of blurring caste lines through inter-caste marriage.
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Social stratification is supported by patterns of belief, or ideology. No system of stratification is likely to persist over generations unless it is widely viewed as being either fair or inevitable. The caste system, for example, is justified in terms of the opposition of purity and pollution, with Brahmins designated as the most superior and Dalits as the most inferior by virtue of their birth and occupation. However, not everyone thinks of a system of inequality as legitimate. Typically, people with the greatest social privileges express the strongest support for systems of stratification such as caste and race. Those who have experienced exploitation and humiliation at the bottom of the hierarchy are most likely to challenge it.
Prejudice and Stereotypes
Often we discuss social exclusion and discrimination as though they pertain only to economic resources. This is only partially true. People face discrimination and exclusion because of their gender, religion, ethnicity, language, caste, and disability. A woman from a privileged background may face sexual harassment in public places. A middle-class professional from a minority religious or ethnic group may find it difficult to get accommodation in a middle-class colony even in a metropolitan city.
People often harbour prejudices about other social groups. Each of us grows up as a member of a community from which we acquire ideas not just about our own community, caste, class, or gender, but also about others. Often these ideas reflect prejudices.
Prejudices are pre-conceived opinions or attitudes held by members of one group towards another. The word literally means 'pre-judgement' — an opinion formed in advance of any familiarity with the subject, before considering any available evidence. A prejudiced person's views are often based on hearsay rather than direct evidence, and are resistant to change even in the face of new information.
Prejudice may be either positive or negative. Although the word is generally used for negative pre-judgements, it can also apply to favourable pre-judgement. For example, a person may be prejudiced in favour of members of their own caste or group and — without any evidence — believe them to be superior to members of other castes or groups.
Prejudices are often grounded in stereotypes — fixed and inflexible characterisations of a group of people. Stereotypes are often applied to ethnic and racial groups and to women. In a country like India, which was colonised for a long time, many of these stereotypes are partly colonial creations. Some communities were characterised as 'martial races', some others as effeminate or cowardly, yet others as untrustworthy. In both English and Indian fictional writings, we often encounter an entire group of people classified as 'lazy' or 'cunning'.
It may indeed be true that some individuals are sometimes lazy or cunning, brave or cowardly. But such a general statement is true of individuals in every group. Even for such individuals, it is not true all the time — the same individual may be both lazy and hardworking at different times. Stereotypes fix whole groups into single, homogenous categories; they refuse to recognise variation across individuals, contexts, or time. They treat an entire community as though it were a single person with a single all-encompassing trait.
Discrimination
If prejudice describes attitudes and opinions, discrimination refers to actual behaviour towards another group or individual. Discrimination can be seen in practices that disqualify members of one group from opportunities open to others — for example, when a person is refused a job because of their gender or religion.
Discrimination can be very hard to prove because it may not be open or explicitly stated. Discriminatory behaviour or practices may be presented as motivated by other, more justifiable reasons rather than prejudice. For instance, a person who is refused a job because of their caste may be told that they were less qualified than others, and that the selection was done purely on merit.
Social Exclusion
Social exclusion refers to ways in which individuals may become cut off from full involvement in the wider society. It focuses attention on a broad range of factors that prevent individuals or groups from having opportunities open to the majority of the population.
To live a full and active life, individuals must not only be able to feed, clothe, and house themselves, but should also have access to essential goods and services such as education, health, transportation, insurance, social security, banking, and even access to the police or judiciary.
Social exclusion is not accidental but systematic — it is the result of structural features of society. India, like most societies, has been marked by acute practices of social discrimination and exclusion. At different periods of history, protest movements arose against caste, gender, and religious discrimination. Yet prejudices remain, and often new ones emerge. Legislation alone is unable to transform society or produce lasting social change. A constant social campaign to change awareness and sensitivity is required to break them. …