Inequality

SEMINARIO DI STORIA ECONOMICA
                                      PROFESSOR DOUGLAS   DOWD
                                      A.S. 2009/2010, Lingue e Culture Europee

  “INEQUALITY”

                                                                                          Maria Laura Turci
                                                                        Matricola 15691

Introduction

Global inequality has grown dramatically over the last 300 years. At the end of the Twentieth Century global income inequality was greater than ever before.
As we prosper through time, inequality is slowly less evident. A lot of people don't realize that although things are improving with time, inequality is still prominent in our society. The people that are failing to realize that there still is inequality, are the fortunate ones. That is becasue they are above the poverty line, and usually live relatively economically easy lives. They are the people who are supplied with our society's benefits. The people that are in pursuit of social change, and constantly bring attention to issues of equal rights and privileges, are often the people that do not have them. They are the ones who suffer daily from different levels of inequality.
Lower classes of stratification are not given the same opportunities as higher classes. Lower classes have ascribed statuses that are difficult to rise up from.
For example, if an individual is born in a family where the children are forced to work to support the family, these children have less opportunity to prosper. They have the status of a worker, and have little of achieving a more successful status in life. If the individual's family suffers a great deal of inequality, and the individual wishes to pursue extended levels of education for greater career opportunities, because of their ascribed circumstances they may not have the opportunity.
Society is a complex system characterized by inequality and conflict, which...