Suchergebnisse

A long-standing argument in the political sciences holds that high levels of inequality are incompatible with democracy. Although a number of studies have by now investigated whether income inequality endangers democratic consolidation and stability through corroding popular support, the findings remain inconclusive. This study provides new evidence for a sociotropic effect of macroeconomic income inequality on trust in the institutions of representative democracy by making use of therandom effects within betweenspecification in multilevel models for data from 28 European democracies over a period of 16 years. The findings show that both long-standing differences in income inequality between countries and changes in inequality within countries over time are negatively related to trust in institutions. While the spirit-level thesis states that this effect should be more pronounced among rich democracies, the findings show that the effect of inequality is stronger in countries that are less affluent. Further analyses on whether the social-psychological mechanism proposed by the spirit-level thesis mediates the effect of inequality on trust document a partial transmission via status concerns and social trust. However, the study suggests that income inequality primarily influences trust in institutions through evaluation-based processes as captured by economic evaluations.

Our symposium offers a variety of perspectives, such as on self-perpetuation of inequality in the international system, or on the consequences of inequality for economic growth or for social and political conflicts. This contribution discusses the determinants of domestic policy choices that affect inequality and the consequences of these policy choices. The empirical focus is on Latin American countries, which collectively are characterized by the highest regional levels of inequality in the world, but individually show considerable variation. Different analyses have emphasized different causes of income inequality and of the variation in inequality, such as historical structural roots in land distribution and natural-resource endowments, geography, ethnic divisions, the economic context, demographics, and state action or lack thereof. The role of the state has not received much systematic attention until rather recently, though, despite its essential role in the allocation of resources.

Globalization has attained a prominent place on the sociological agenda, and stratification scholars have implicated globalization in the increased income inequality observed in many advanced capitalist countries. But sociologists have given much less attention to a different but increasingly prevalent form of internationalization: regional integration. Regional integration, or the construction of international economy and polity within negotiated regions, should matter for income inequality. Regional economic integration should raise income inequality, as workers are exposed to international competition and labor unions are weakened. Regional political integration should also raise income inequality, but through a different mechanism: where the regional polity advances market-oriented policies, political integration should drive welfare state retrenchment as states adopt liberal policies in a context of fiscal austerity. Evidence from random-effects and fixed-effects models of national income inequality in Western Europe supports these arguments. The significant effects of regional integration on income inequality are net of several controls, including two established measures of globalization, suggesting that a sociology of regional integration adds to our understanding of rising income inequality in Western Europe.

An introduction to the study of social inequality -- Theories of class and social inequality -- The American class system -- The upper class and the power elite -- The middle classes -- Poverty and the poor -- Stratification systems and social mobility -- Ideology and the legitimation of inequality -- Public policy and the class system -- Racial/ethnic differentiation -- Racial/ethnic stratification -- Gender inequality -- Political inequality

"Since the beginning of social life human societies have faced the problem how to distribute the results of collaborative activities among the participants. The solutions they found ranged from egalitarian to unequal but caused more dissension and conflict than just about any other social structure in human history. Social inequality also dominated the agenda of the new field of sociology in the 19th century. The theories developed during that time still inform academic and public debates, and inequality continues to be the subject of much current controversy. Origins of Inequality begins with a critical assessment of classical explanations of inequality in the social sciences and the political and economic environment in which they arose. The book then offers a new theory of the evolution of distributive structures in human societies. It examines the interaction of chance, intent and unforeseen consequences in the emergence of social inequality, traces its irregular historical path in different societies, and analyses processes of social control which consolidated inequality even when it was costly or harmful for most participants. Because the evolution of distributive structures is an open process, the book also explores issues of distributive justice and options for greater equality in modern societies. Along with its focus on social inequality the book covers topics in cultural evolution, social and economic history and social theory. This book will appeal to scholars and advanced students of sociology, economics and anthropology - in particular sociological theory and social inequality."--Publisher description

This paper attempts to portray a profile of international inequality or inequality of real income among nations, assuming that total income of every country is equally distributed among its population. Also, in an attempt to find the contributions of incomes of different groups of countries to total inequality, a new method of disaggregation of the Gini coefficient is applied to global inequality. While only two types of grouping are analyzed, the method is flexible enough to deal with any type of grouping. It is demonstrated that important questions regarding the effects of economic growth in a subgroup of countries on global inequality can be answered using this method. Thus, the elasticities of the Gini coefficient of the disparity among countries with respect to income of specific groups are presented.

Social psychology of inequality, Difference between actual and perceived inequality, Decision-making under socioeconomic threat, Consequences of inequality, Stereotypical perception of groups, Inequality and bullying, Status seeking for positional goods, Inequality and food choice, Inequality in performance contexts, Pay inequality at work for motivation, Gender pay inequalities, Social class differences, Social integration in university, Academic outcomes and mental health, Inequality and risk-taking, Ethnic identity centrality, Income inequality and life satisfaction, High status and status maintenance, Inequality and mobility, Perceived system longevity increases system justification.

Introduction -- Why inequality is the real issue -- The long neglect of inequality -- The statistical drift of inequality studies -- Inequality and globalization -- Inequality and democracy -- The future of inequality