Social Class and Inequality
Social Class and Inequality
Social inequality has been defined as a conflicting status within a society with regards to the individual, property rights, and access to education, medical care, and welfare programs. Much of society’s inequality can be attributed to the class status of a particular group, which has usually been largely determined by the group’s ethnicity or race (Macionis & Gerber, 2006).
The conflict perspective is an attempt to understand the group conflict that occurs by the protection of one’s status at the expense of the other. One group will resort to various means to preserve a ideal social status through socioeconomic prestige, consolidation of power (political and financial), and control of resources. In Canada, even though its impact is frequently minimized, social inequality exists, but because the majority of citizens associate exclusively with members of their own class, they are often unaware of the significant role social inequality continues to play (Macionis & Gerber, 2006).
An inadequate distribution of wealth remains “an important component” of Canada’s social inequities (Macionis & Gerber, 2006). Wealth can be defined as the amount of money or material items that an individual, family, or group controls and ultimately determines the status of a particular class (Macionis & Gerber, 2006). Canada’s social classes can be divided into four, and the wealth is not distributed equally between them. First, there is the predominantly
Anglo upper class, in which most of the wealth has been inherited; and they comprise of approximately 3-to-5 percent of the Canadian population (Macionis & Gerber, 2006). Next, there is the middle class, which is made up of the greatest number of Canadians, nearly 50 percent with ‘upper-middle’ class subdivisions generating white-collar incomes of between
$50,000 and $100,000 while the rest are earning reasonable livings in less
Social inequality has been defined as a conflicting status within a society with regards to the individual, property rights, and access to education, medical care, and welfare programs. Much of society’s inequality can be attributed to the class status of a particular group, which has usually been largely determined by the group’s ethnicity or race (Macionis & Gerber, 2006).
The conflict perspective is an attempt to understand the group conflict that occurs by the protection of one’s status at the expense of the other. One group will resort to various means to preserve a ideal social status through socioeconomic prestige, consolidation of power (political and financial), and control of resources. In Canada, even though its impact is frequently minimized, social inequality exists, but because the majority of citizens associate exclusively with members of their own class, they are often unaware of the significant role social inequality continues to play (Macionis & Gerber, 2006).
An inadequate distribution of wealth remains “an important component” of Canada’s social inequities (Macionis & Gerber, 2006). Wealth can be defined as the amount of money or material items that an individual, family, or group controls and ultimately determines the status of a particular class (Macionis & Gerber, 2006). Canada’s social classes can be divided into four, and the wealth is not distributed equally between them. First, there is the predominantly
Anglo upper class, in which most of the wealth has been inherited; and they comprise of approximately 3-to-5 percent of the Canadian population (Macionis & Gerber, 2006). Next, there is the middle class, which is made up of the greatest number of Canadians, nearly 50 percent with ‘upper-middle’ class subdivisions generating white-collar incomes of between
$50,000 and $100,000 while the rest are earning reasonable livings in less
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