Sociology and Criminology-Open Access
Open Access

Social Inequality Strategies in the Globalized Economy

Sarah Jennifer^{* *}Correspondence: Sarah Jennifer, Department of Sociology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, Email:

Author info »

About the Study

Social inequality occurs when resources are dispersed unequally within a society, often as a result of norms of distribution that produce distinct patterns along lines of socially defined categories of people. It has and fosters a gender gap among people, which restricts women's access to opportunities in society. The preference for distinct social commodities in a culture is caused by factors such as power, religion, kinship, prestige, race, ethnicity, gender, age, and sexual orientation. Social inequality is typically thought of as the absence of result equality, but it may also be thought of as the absence of opportunity equality. This goes along with how rights are exercised within social economies and how inequality is expressed therein. The labour market; the means of support, access to health care, and the freedoms of speech, education, political involvement, and representation are all social rights.

Patterns of inequality in the economic world

Numerous socially constructed traits of people influence social rank and, consequently, equality or inequality within a society. Examining the data reveals trends that suggest these other social characteristics act as intervening variables when researchers employ quantitative variables like income or wealth to quantify inequality. When certain socially defined categories of persons are compared, significant income and wealth inequalities are discovered. Sex/gender, color, and ethnicity are among the most widespread of these characteristics since they influence many aspects of society and shape and limit large portions of the economy. This is not to suggest that merit has no bearing on fluctuations in income or wealth in civilizations where merit is seen as the key criterion determining one's place or rank in the social order. To put it another way, these other socially constructed traits can, and frequently do, affect how merit is valued.

Gender inequality: Due to differences in masculinity and femininity, women and men are treated differently in society. This is manifested in the division of labour, the assignment of tasks and obligations, and the distribution of social benefits. Social disparity is largely a result of sexism, which is prejudice and discrimination based on one's gender and one's sexual orientation. Even rural communities often have some form of gender-based division of labour, which tends to rise as industrialization takes place.

The growing gap between the roles given to men and women, notably in the economic, political, and educational realms, is what gave rise to the focus on gender inequality.

Racial and ethnic inequality: Racial or ethnic inequality is a product of social hierarchies that exist within a community and are frequently based on physical traits like skin color and other physical characteristics or a person's country of origin. Racism and systemic racism are the causes of racial inequality. Members of excluded groups may also experience less chance as a result of racial inequality, which can feed vicious cycles of poverty and political exclusion. Redlining in Chicago is a prominent example of this. Redlines were drawn on maps around black neighborhoods intentionally to prevent black people from leaving dilapidated public housing by denying them credit.

Age inequality: Age discrimination is the practice of treating someone unfairly because of their age when it comes to hiring, promotions, resources, or privileges. The discrimination against people or groups based solely on their age is sometimes referred to as ageism. Age-based bias, discrimination, and subordination are justified using a certain set of ideas, attitudes, norms, and values, which restricts some people from attaining certain qualities. Adultism, which is the discrimination against minors and those who are under the legal adult age, is one type of ageism.

Inequalities in health: Differences in health status or in the distribution of health determinants among various demographic groups are considered health disparities.

Health care: Access to healthcare is frequently a factor in health inequality. Health disparities are more pronounced in developed nations where there is no universal health care system, such as the United States. Access to health care in the US is mostly based on one's financial resources because health care is a commodity that may be purchased through private insurance firms rather than a right. Health disparities based on gender, socioeconomic class, and race/ethnicity are a result of the way healthcare is structured in the United States.

Food: Recent years have seen a lot of research on the phenomena known as "food deserts," which occurs when a neighborhood has limited access to fresh, wholesome food, which results in bad dietary choices made by consumers. The epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States and many other nations is commonly believed to be caused in large part by food deserts. This may have substantial effects both locally and globally, as in Greece, where the prevalence of childhood obesity has sharply increased recently as a result of the country's chronic poverty and the resulting lack of access to fresh meals.