HOW MEMBERS OF DIFFERENT GROUPS PERCEIVE INEQUALITY

 


People’s perceptions always have to be analyzed carefully and critically and there can be several reasons why the society may be considered unequal. First of all, the inequality may be structurally reproduced. This means that the existing system in a society does not guarantee people justice principles that are promised by the state and expected by the people. It means that people’s basic needs in a society are not satisfied, equal liberties are not guaranteed, there is discrimination, no equal opportunity to get ahead in life and the input of people is not fairly rewarded. If structural inequality exists then everybody should notice that. Empirically it means that all or at least the majority of people in a society should perceive high inequality – independent of their own socio-economic position. The perceived inequality is often influenced by personal experiences. People who have a higher socio-economic position usually think they have achieved their status in a fair competition. On the other hand, people in a lower position in a society tend to think that the reasons for them to be unsuccessful are restrictions created by the society and the structural system. Generally it can be seen that people from the lower socio-economic status perceive more inequality and vice versa. So an assumption can be made that perceived inequality depends on the individual’s position in a society. There are many types of inequality that leads one group to perceive the other group as less equal. E.g. Racial inequality. Racial group – a category of people who have been singled out, by others or themselves, as inferior or superior, on the basis of subjectively selected physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture and eye shape. E.g. White or non-white. Racism is a 77 set of attitudes, beliefs and practices used to justify the superior treatment of one racial or ethnic group and the inferior treatment of another racial or ethnic group. Another very old and strong inequality that exists is gender inequality. Gender inequality leads to gender prejudice called sexism. It is a term coined in the mid20th century, refers to the belief or attitude that one gender or sex is inferior to, less competent, or less valuable than the other. Gender Prejudice is a universal phenomenon though more rampant in less advanced countries. India is a good example of rampant gender prejudice. In addition, today we have perceived regional and caste inequalities, religion, etc., all reasons for perceived inequalities to come into play. We see people from other religions as different and begin to associate negative characteristics with them. Some of the different forms of prejudice arising from perceived inequality is given in the table below.


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