Types of Inequality

Social inequality-
Meaning
 Social inequality refers to the
existence of unequal opportunities
and rewards for different social
positions or statuses within a
group or society.
 Definition

 According to Ian Robertson” Social

inequality exists when some
people have a greater share of
power , wealth or prestige than
others
 Salient features of social
inequality
 Social inequality is the result of differentiation
 Social inequality is Universal
 Social inequality is normally built in to the
social structure
 Social inequality is a source of social conflict
and social change
 Social inequalities are normally sustained by
the power of ideas.
 Social inequalities are not necessarily based
on natural or biological inequalities.
Types of inequality

Caste
Inequality
Gender
inequality

Class inequality

Regional
Inequality
Caste inequality
 H. Cooly defines caste as the “the life style and
practices strictly followed by social group.
 Each caste has its own life –style, code of
conduct , prescribed customs , traditions,
norms which state what is right and what is
wrong rituals and practices. Caste has roots in
racial differences among the human beings and
spreads slowly.
 In India there are countless number of caste
and subcaste
 The disparity in the society which
provides for making available
preferences and privileges to some
caste and denying the same to other
castes is known as caste-based
inequality.
 Children born to parents of the same
caste are alone considered as belonging
to that caste. Generally marriages take
place with in the same caste.
 Jawaharlal Nehru described the caste
system as the cancer affecting the
Indian society.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?
 India’s upper caste households earned nearly
47% more than the national average annual
household income, the top 10% within these
castes owned 60% of the wealth within the
group in 2012, as per the World Inequality
Database.
 Caste Inequality is a hereditary stratification system.
In Hindu tradition, a person is born into a caste with
little to no mobility. This caste determines one's
lifestyle, prestige, and occupational choices.
 The five castes of Hindus are the elite class, warrior
class, merchant class, servant caste, and the
'untouchables'. This caste of Hindu people were
required to hide from or bow in the presence of
anyone of a higher caste .
 2.Gender Inequality

 Gender inequality is the unequal treatment or

perceptions of individuals based on their gender. It
arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles
 Gender inequality acknowledges that men and women
are not equal and that gender affects an individual's
living experience. These differences arise from distinctions
in biology, psychology, and cultural norms.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9CLFiPnOd8
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpPozOvNrKA
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjTRkp7vIo0
 Gender based prejudice and discrimination
called sexism is a major contributing factor to
social inequality.
 Treating males and females differently in the
family , educational institutions, work places,
common places like railway stations,
restaurants, cinema theatres, markets and
shopping malls, places of worship etc.
 Opportunities for women are not equal as that
for men. Percentage of women among those
in top posts is very low.
 Though ‘ equal pay for equal work’ has
been accepted in principle, in practice the
pay for women is found to be less than men
doing the same work , particularly in the
unorganised sector.
 In education too, the rate of enrolment of girls
is considerably less than that of boys, their
rate of drop out is also high.
 Gender Inequality

 The Global Gender Gap Report,

2019, ranks India at 129 among 146
countries.
 Four parameters for measuring gender
inequality are economic participation and
opportunity, health and survival,
educational attainment and political
empowerment.
 Gender wage gap is highest in India according
International Labour Organization women
are paid 34% less than men.
 Women comprise over 42 percent of the
agricultural labour force in the country.
 Class Inequality

 When we look around, we can see that everyone

doesn’t have equal amounts of money or
resources. We hear news of a billionaire whose
house costs a billion dollars, but at the same
time see beggars on the roads with no food or
shelter. This called Class Inequality,
 where people of a high class have excess
resources, while the majority live in poverty with
no basic food, water, clothes or shelter. There is
no equal distribution of resources.
 Upper Class
 The upper class refers to the richest people in the
society.
 The upper class represents a relatively small
proportion of the population compared to the
other two classes.
 We sometimes refer to the upper class as ruling
class, especially the wealthiest members of this
group.
 Annual income above Rs 18 lakh to over Rs 30
lakhs annually characterised by high quality living,
luxury goods, significant savings and investments.
 Middle Class
 The middle class in India is estimated to be
31% of the population and is expected to
grow to 38% by 2031
 The Middle class is defined as households
with an annual disposable income between
Rs6,00,000/- to Rs 12,00,000.
 People in this group have improved living
standards , access to better education and
healthcare and own consumer durables.
 Lower Class
 The lower class is generally defined as
a group of people with low income ,
lack of education or skills and a low
social standing.

 Some categories in India

 Below Poverty Line(BPL)
 Economically Weaker
Section(EWS)
 Low Income Group
 Below Poverty Line(BPL)
 Annual Income is less than 27000. People in this group
have limited access to basic necessities and rely on
government aid. The current poverty line is 1059 Indian
rupees per month in rural areas and 1286 rupees per
month in urban areas.
 Economically Weaker Section(EWS)
 Annual income is up to Rs 3 lakh. People in this group
have basic living conditions and access to government
support for education, health and housing
 Low Income Group(LIG)
 Annual income is between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 6 lakh.
People in this group have a modest lifestyle , basic
consumer goods and limited savings
 Regional inequality

 All states in India are not equally developed.

 The main indices of progress like
generation of electricity, food
production, transport and
communication facilities , percapita
income and employment opportunities
available are high in some states while
some other states are lagging behind in
them.
  Population as per 2011 census

S.No Zone State Average

(number)

1 South India Andhra Pradesh 4.93 crores

2 Central India Maharashtra 11.00 crores

3 North India Uttar Pradesh 19.9 crores

4 East India Assam 3.11 crores

 Consequences of Inequalities

 Social Conflict
 Inequalities tend to produce social conflict among the social
groups e.g. caste groups like Jaats, Maratha, Patels are
demanding reservations but this demand is opposed by caste
groups already claiming the benefits of reservations, such clash
of interest due to perceived inequality tend to produce violent
conflicts between opposing caste groups.
 Ethnic Movements
 Inequalities among ethnic groups have led to various ethnic
movements demanding separate states or autonomous
regions or even outright secession from India. North East has
been rocked by numerous such ethnic movement e.g. by Nagas
for greater Nagalim etc.
 Religious Inequality
 Religious inequality tends to
generate feeling of exclusion
among religious minority groups.
This reduces their participation in
mainstream, in India religious
minorities have large population their
economic exclusion compromises the
GDP growth of nation as whole.
 Economic Inequality
 High economic inequality is detrimental to
public healthcare and education. Upper
and Middle classes do not have vested
interest in well functioning public healthcare
and education as they have means to access
private healthcare and education.
 Measures to Deal with Inequalities

 Constitutional Provision:
Enforcement of Constitutional
Guarantee of equality as enshrined in
fundamental rights. Articles 14, 15 and
16 form part of a scheme of the
Constitutional Right to Equality. Article 15
and 16 are incidents of guarantees of
Equality, and gives effect to Article 14.
 Promoting Civil Society
 Provide a greater voice to traditionally oppressed and
suppressed groups, including by enabling civil society
groups like unions and association with in these
groups.
 Scheduled castes and Scheduled tribes should be
motivated to become entrepreneurs, schemes like
Stand up India(2016 promote new business,
Entrepreneurship among women , SC and ST
communities) need to be expanded to widen its reach
by increasing funding.
 Women Empowerment
 For gender equality policies like affirmative action
by reserving seats in legislatures(33%),
increasing reservation at Local self
government(1/3) both at Urban and village
level to 50% in all states, strict implementation
of The Equal Remuneration act,1976 to
remove wage gap, making education curriculum
gender sensitive, raising awareness about women
right, changing social norms through schemes like
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao(2015) etc.
 Inclusion of Religious Minorities
 Religious minority groups need special
attention through representation in
government jobs, provision of
institutional credit, improvement of
their education access, protection of
their human rights by empowering
National commission for Minority,
strengthening rule of law etc.
 Economic Policies
 By ensuring universal access to public
funded high quality services like Public
health and education, social security
benefits, employment guarantee
schemes; inequality can be reduced to
great extent.
 Employment Generation
The failure to grow manufacturing sectors like
Textile, Clothing, automobiles, consumer goods
etc. is the important reason of rising
inequalities.
 The Labour-intensive manufacturing has the
potential to absorb millions of people who
are leaving farming while service sector tend
to benefit majorly urban middle class.