Social inequality in the modern. Social inequality: causes, signs, examples

Aspects of inequality

Inequality in human society is one of the topical objects of sociological research. Its reasons also lie in several main aspects.

Inequality initially implies different opportunities and unequal access to available social and material goods. Among these benefits are the following:

1. Income is a a certain amount money that a person receives per unit of time. Often, income is directly wages that are paid for the labor produced by a person and the physical or mental strength expended. In addition to labor, it can also be the ownership of property that “works”. Thus, the lower the income of a person, the lower he is in the hierarchy of society;
2. Education is a complex of knowledge, skills and abilities acquired by a person during his stay in educational institutions. The level of education is measured by the number of years of education. They can range from 9 years (incomplete secondary school). For example, a professor may have more than 20 years of education behind him, respectively, he will be much higher in level than a person who has completed 9 classes;
3. Power - the ability of an individual to impose his worldview, point of view on the wider population, regardless of their desire. The level of power is measured by the number of people to whom it extends;
4. Prestige is a position in society and its assessment, which has developed on the basis of public opinion.

Causes of social inequality

For a long time, many researchers have wondered whether a society can exist in principle if there is no inequality or hierarchy in it. In order to answer this question, it is necessary to understand the causes of social inequality.

Different approaches interpret this phenomenon and its causes in different ways. Let's analyze the most influential and famous.

Remark 1

Functionalism explains the phenomenon of inequality based on the diversity of social functions. These functions are inherent in different layers, classes and communities.

The functioning and development of social relations are possible only under the condition of the division of labor. In this situation, each social group carries out the solution of tasks that are vital for the entire society. Some are engaged in the creation and production wealth, while the activities of others are aimed at creating spiritual values. We also need a control layer that will control the activities of the first two - hence the third follows.

For the successful functioning of society, a combination of all three of the above types of human activity is simply necessary. Some are the most important, and some are the least. Thus, on the basis of function hierarchies, a hierarchy of classes and layers that perform them is formed.

Status explanation of social inequality. It is based on observations of the actions and behavior of specific individuals. As we understand, every person who occupies a certain place in society automatically acquires his status. Hence the opinion that social inequality is, first of all, inequality of statuses. It follows both from the ability of individuals to fulfill a certain role, and from the possibilities that allow a person to achieve a certain position in society.

In order for an individual to perform one or another social role, he needs to have certain skills, abilities and qualities (to be competent, sociable, to have the appropriate knowledge and skills to be a teacher, an engineer). Opportunities that allow a person to achieve a particular position in society are, for example, in the ownership of property, capital, origin from a well-known and wealthy family, belonging to a high class or political forces.

An Economic Perspective on the Causes of Social Inequality. In accordance with this daughter of view, the main cause of social inequality lies in the unequal attitude to property, the distribution of material wealth. This approach manifested itself most clearly under Marxism, when precisely the appearance private property led to the social stratification of society and the formation of antagonistic classes.

Problems of social inequality

Social inequality is a very common phenomenon, and therefore, like many other manifestations in society, it faces a number of problems.

First, the problems of inequality arise simultaneously in two of the most developed areas of society: in the public and economic spheres.

When we talk about inequalities in public sphere, then it is worth mentioning the following manifestations of instability:

1. Uncertainty in one's future, as well as in the stability of the position in which the individual is now;
2. Suspension of production due to dissatisfaction on the part of various segments of the population, which leads to a lack of production for the rest;
3. The growth of social tension, which can lead to such consequences as unrest, social conflicts;
4. The absence of real social elevators that will allow you to move up the social ladder both from the bottom up and vice versa - from the top down;
5. Psychological pressure due to the feeling of unpredictability of the future, the lack of clear forecasts for further development.

In the economic sphere, the problems of social inequality are expressed as follows: an increase in government spending on the production of certain goods or services, a partially unfair distribution of income (not those who really work and use their physical strength receive, but those who invest more money), respectively, from here There is another significant problem - unequal access to resources.

Remark 2

The peculiarity of the problem of inequality of access to resources lies in the fact that it is both a cause and a consequence of modern social inequality.

Social inequality appeared in primitive tribes and intensified at subsequent stages of the development of society.

In modern society, there are big social groups, differing in the amount of income (wealth), the level of education, the profession and the nature of work. They are called classes, social strata.

In society, there is a social division into groups of the rich (upper class), prosperous (middle class), poor (lower class).

The rich, the upper class include those who own large property, money. They are at the top rung of the social "ladder", receive big income, have large property ( oil companies, commercial banks etc.). A person can become rich thanks to talent and hard work, inheritance, and a successful career.

Between the rich and the poor is the middle class of wealthy people, provided with money. They maintain a decent standard of living that allows them to satisfy all reasonable needs (purchase high-quality food, expensive clothes, housing).

The poor - the lowest class - receive the minimum income in the form of wages, pensions, scholarships, social benefits. This money can be used to purchase only the smallest amount of necessities of life necessary to maintain the health and life of a person (food, clothing, etc.).

Imagine that all people are socially equal. Universal equality deprives people of incentives to move forward, the desire to apply their maximum efforts and abilities to fulfill their duties (people will consider that they receive no more for their work than they would receive if they did nothing all day).

Inequality between people exists in any society. This is quite natural and logical, given that people differ in their abilities, interests, life preferences, value orientations etc.

In every society, there are poor and rich, educated and uneducated, enterprising and unenterprising, those in power and those without it.

In this regard, the problem of the origin of social inequality, attitudes towards it and ways to eliminate it has always aroused increased interest, not only among thinkers and politicians, but also among ordinary people who consider social inequality as an injustice.

In the history of social thought, the inequality of people was explained in different ways: by the initial inequality of souls, divine providence, imperfection of human nature, functional necessity by analogy with the body.

The German economist K. Marx associated social inequality with the emergence of private property and the struggle of interests of various classes and social groups.

The German sociologist R. Dahrendorf also believed that the economic and status inequality underlying the ongoing conflict of groups and classes and the struggle for the redistribution of power and status is formed as a result of the market mechanism for regulating supply and demand.

The Russian-American sociologist P. Sorokin explained the inevitability of social inequality by the following factors: internal biopsychic differences of people; environment(natural and social), objectively placing individuals in an unequal position; the joint collective life of individuals, which requires the organization of relations and behavior, which leads to the stratification of society into the ruled and the managers.

The American sociologist T. Pearson explained the existence of social inequality in every society by the presence of a hierarchized system of values. For example, in American society, success in business and career is considered the main social value, therefore, scientists of technological specialties, plant directors, etc., have a higher status and income, while in Europe the dominant value is “preservation of cultural patterns”, due to what society gives special prestige to humanities intellectuals, clergymen, university professors.

Social inequality, being inevitable and necessary, manifests itself in all societies at all stages of historical development; only the forms and degree of social inequality change historically. Otherwise, individuals would lose the incentive to engage in complex and laborious, dangerous or uninteresting activities, to improve their skills. With the help of inequality in income and prestige, society encourages individuals to engage in necessary, but difficult and unpleasant professions, encourages more educated and talented people, and so on.

The problem of social inequality is one of the most acute and topical in modern Russia. feature social structure Russian society is a strong social polarization - the division of the population into poor and rich in the absence of a significant middle stratum, which is the basis of an economically stable and developed state. Strong social stratification, characteristic of modern Russian society, reproduces a system of inequality and injustice, in which the possibilities of independent life self-realization and increase social status limited for a fairly large part of the population of Russia.

What is social inequality? Where did this concept come from? What are the prerequisites for its appearance and how to deal with it? These questions have been pondered by sociologists and economists from all over the world and for a very long time. The topic of inequality has taken a special place in the thoughts of Russians.

The problem of social inequality is associated with the appearance of the first signs of social differentiation (differentiation is the allocation of a certain part from common objects or knowledge according to certain characteristics), which later created more and more new and complex problems that are associated with this.

Inequality occupies a special place in any sociological research, but the explanation of this concept, its nature, the relationship of individual forms remains one of the most important problems of any sociological research.

In any textbook of sociology, the concept of social inequality is defined in different ways. In order to better understand this issue we need to define the concept of social inequality.

Social inequality is a form of differentiation in which individuals, social groups, strata, classes are at different levels of the vertical social hierarchy, and have unequal life chances and opportunities to meet needs.

Social inequality is the conditions under which people have unequal access to social benefits: money, services, power.

In general terms, social inequality means that people live in unequal social conditions and they have unequal access to both material resources as well as spiritual ones.

Social differences are those differences that are generated social factors: urban or rural population, mental or physical worker, as well as social role in society, and so on, which leads to a difference in income, power and social status, as well as education.

To describe the system of inequality between groups (communities) of people in sociology, the concept of "social stratification" is widely used. The very word "stratification" is taken from geologists. AT English language it began to be understood as a layer, a formation in geology, a layer of society (in social science). Stratification suggests that social differences between people acquire the character of a hierarchical ranking.

Inequality between people exists in any society. And this is quite normal, since people differ in mental abilities, physical abilities, interests and preferences, values ​​in life. In absolutely any society, there are rich and poor, people with power and people who do not have it, educated people and uneducated people. In this regard, the problem of social inequality has always arose, which aroused increased interest only among economists, politicians, but also among ordinary citizens who were concerned about this problem.

The German economist K. Marx associated social inequality with the emergence of private property and the struggle of interests of various classes and social groups.

The German sociologist R. Dahrendorf also believed that the economic and status inequality underlying the ongoing conflict of groups and classes and the struggle for the redistribution of power and status is formed as a result of the market mechanism for regulating supply and demand.

The Russian-American sociologist P. Sorokin explained the inevitability of social inequality by the following factors: internal biopsychic differences of people; the environment (natural and social), which objectively puts individuals in an unequal position; the joint collective life of individuals, which requires the organization of relations and behavior, which leads to the stratification of society into the ruled and the managers.

The American sociologist T. Pearson explained the existence of social inequality in every society by the presence of a hierarchized system of values. For example, in American society, success in business and career is considered the main social value, therefore, scientists of technological specialties, plant directors, etc., have a higher status and income, while in Europe the dominant value is “preservation of cultural patterns”, due to what society gives special prestige to humanities intellectuals, clergymen, university professors.

Understanding social inequality can only be done by looking at the differences between people. These differences can be congenital or acquired, they can be natural or social in nature, they can also be material or spiritual, physiological, mental, intellectual.

Mark Weber - a classic of world sociological theory, expressed the decisive importance for the formation of modern ideas about the essence, forms and functions of social inequality. The idea is that the individual is the subject of social action.

In contrast to Marx, Weber, apart from the economic nuance of stratification, took into account these nuances as power and authority. Weber viewed property, power and authority as 3 separate interacting factors that underlie hierarchies in any society. Differences in ownership give rise to economic classes; differences related to power give rise to political parties, and status groups or strata provide special differences. From this, he defined the concept of "3 independent dimensions of stratification." He emphasized that "classes", "status groups", "parties" belong to the sphere of distribution of power within society.

The main difference between Weber and Marx is that, as Weber argued, the class has no possibility of being the subject of action, since it is not considered a community. Unlike Marx, Weber associated the definition of class only with the capitalist community, where the market is one of the most important regulators of relations. With the help of it, a person is able to satisfy his needs in material terms.

But in the market, people occupy different positions or are in different “class situations”. Here everything is sold and purchased. Some sell products, services, while others - labor force. The difference here is that they seem to have property, while the rest do not. Weber does not have a definite structure for capitalist society, so his writings provide inconsistent lists of classes.

At the very beginning, inequality is based on natural differentiation - differences between people due to their physical, mental, intellectual traits. They can be both innate (gender, race, intelligence, physical health) and acquired in nature (obtained in the process of learning, training).

One of the main differences, due to which the unequal attitude of people develops and, in the future, social inequality, are natural differences. These differences formed the basis of inequality in primitive times, but they have not lost their significance to this day. The differences lie in the fact that there is a shift of some accents to others. Under this concept, such phenomena as racism, Nazism are suitable, and in most cases in the modern world and in many countries social inequality is influenced by: race, skin color, nationality. The weakening of these factors is a concern for political forces. For example, the creation of decent working conditions and full-fledged living, the fight against racial prejudice.

There is another level of differentiation of individuals - social. Social differences are differences that are created by social factors, the main ones being:

• 1) The division of social labor, after which new different kinds human occupations and professions
• 2) The occupation of a person is determined only by the content of his activity
• 3) The standard of living is related to external conditions in relation to a person. Physical conditions: nature, climate, landscape, population. Cultural conditions are determined by the environment in which a person lives (language, norms, religion, traditions, and so on)
• 4) A person's lifestyle is his feature. It depends on the age of the person, gender, education, occupation.

Modern culture allows for inequalities in income or positions that people do not object to, in contrast to inequalities based on nationality.

The essence of social inequality is that it is a universal characteristic of a society in which people have unequal life chances for the moral and spiritual benefits of society.

The phenomenon of the concept of poverty became the subject of research in modern domestic sociology in the 90s. AT Soviet time the concept of poverty did not exist at all, it was replaced by the concept of low income, which is revealed in the theory of welfare.

Max Weber, a classic of world theory in the field of sociology, expressed his point of view, which was of decisive importance for the formation of advanced ideas about the essence, forms and functions of inequality in society. The main ideas of this thought are that a person is considered the subject of social action.

In contrast to Marx, Weber, apart from the economic nuance of stratification, took into account these nuances as power and authority. Weber viewed property, power, and authority as separate interacting factors that underlie hierarchies in any society. Differences in ownership give rise to economic classes; differences that relate to power give rise to political parties, and elite differences provide status groupings (strata).

From here he formulated the concept of "three autonomous dimensions of stratification".

He emphasized that "classes", "status groups", "parties" are phenomena that relate to the sphere of distribution of power within society.

Weber's main contradiction with Marx is that Weber associated the definition of class only with a capitalist society, where the market is the regulator of relationships. With the help of it, a person satisfies his own material needs. But in the market people occupy different positions and are in different “class situations”. Everyone buys and sells here. Some sell goods and services, while others sell labor.

The difference is that some have property and others do not. Weber does not have a clear definition of the class structure of capitalist society, so various interpreters of his work provide inconsistent lists of classes.

If we take into account his methodological views, and summarizing his historical, socio-economic works, then we can reconstruct Weber's typology of classes under capitalism:

• 1. Working class
• 2. Petty bourgeoisie
• 3. "White Collar"
• 4. Administrators and managers
• 5. Owners

Social inequality is a phenomenon that is practically impossible to avoid; appears in all types of society and at all stages of historical development; only the forms and degree of social inequality change historically. On the other hand, then a person would not have an incentive to engage in complex, dangerous or even uninteresting activities, to improve their skills. Thanks to income inequality, society induces people (individuals) to the necessary occupations, but rather difficult, encourages the most talented.

The problem of social inequality is one of the most acute and urgent problems. individuality public structure Russian society is a strong social polarization - the division of society into the poor and the rich in the absence of a middle system, which is the basis of an economically stable and developed country. A strong social division reproduces a system of inequality and injustice, in which the ability of independent life self-realization and an increase in social status for a fairly large proportion of the Russian population of the country.

Even a superficial look at the people around us gives reason to talk about their dissimilarity. People are different by gender, age, temperament, height, hair color, intelligence level and many other features. Nature endowed one with musical abilities, the other with strength, the third with beauty, and prepared the fate of a weak invalid for someone. Differences between people, due to their physiological and mental characteristics, are called natural.

All societies known to history were organized in such a way that some social groups always had a privileged position over others, which was expressed in an unequal distribution of social benefits and powers. In other words, social inequality is inherent in all societies without exception. Even the ancient philosopher Plato argued that any city, no matter how small it may be, is actually divided into two halves - one for the poor, the other for the rich, and they are at enmity with each other.

Natural differences are far from harmless, they can become the basis for the emergence of unequal relationships between individuals. The strong force the weak, the cunning triumph over the simpletons. Inequality resulting from natural differences is the first form of inequality, in one form or another manifested in some species of animals. However, in in human society, the main thing is social inequality, inextricably linked with social differences, social differentiation.

Inequality between people exists in every society. This is quite natural and logical, given that people differ in their abilities, interests, life preferences, value orientations, etc. In every society, there are poor and rich, educated and uneducated, enterprising and unenterprising, those in power and those without it. In this regard, the problem of the origin of social inequality, attitudes towards it and ways to eliminate it has always aroused increased interest among researchers, politicians and society, which consider social inequality as an injustice.

In the absence of social inequality, individuals would lose the incentive to engage in complex and laborious, dangerous or uninteresting activities, to improve their skills. With the help of inequality in income and prestige, society encourages individuals to engage in necessary, but difficult and unpleasant professions, encourages more educated and talented people, and so on.

Social inequality- a form of differentiation in which individual individuals, social groups, strata, classes are at different levels of the vertical social hierarchy and have unequal life chances and opportunities to meet needs.

In its most general form, inequality means that people live in conditions in which they have unequal access to limited resources of material and spiritual consumption.

Social inequality is perceived and experienced by many people (primarily the unemployed, economic migrants, those who are at or below the poverty line) as a manifestation of injustice. Social inequality, property stratification of society, as a rule, lead to an increase in social tension in society.

The main principles of social policy implementation are:

1. protection of living standards by introducing various forms of compensation for price increases and indexation;

2. providing assistance to the poorest families;

3. issuance of assistance in case of unemployment;

4. ensuring social insurance policy, establishing a minimum wage for employees;

5. development of education, protection of health, the environment, mainly at the expense of the state;

6. conducting an active policy aimed at ensuring qualifications.

Social those are called differences, which generated by social factors: way of life (urban and rural population), division of labor (mental and physical labor), social roles (father, doctor, politician), etc., which leads to differences in the degree of ownership of property, income received, power, achievement of social status, prestige, education.

Various levels social development are basis for social inequality, the emergence of rich and poor, the stratification of society, its stratification (a stratum is a layer that includes people with the same income, power, education, prestige).

Income- the amount of cash receipts received by a person per unit of time. It may be labor, or it may be the possession of property that “works”.

Education- a complex of knowledge obtained in educational institutions. Its level is measured by the number of years of study. Say, incomplete secondary school - 9 years. The professor has more than 20 years of education behind him.

Even a superficial look at the people around us gives reason to talk about their dissimilarity. People are different by gender, age, temperament, height, hair color, intelligence level and many other features. Nature endowed one with musical abilities, the other with strength, the third with beauty, and prepared for someone the fate of a weak invalid. Differences between people, due to their physiological and mental characteristics, are called natural.

Natural differences are far from harmless, they can become the basis for the emergence of unequal relationships between individuals. The strong force the weak, the cunning triumph over the simpletons. Inequality resulting from natural differences is the first form of inequality, in one form or another manifested in some species of animals. However, in human main is social inequality, inextricably linked with social differences, social differentiation.

Social those are called differences, which generated by social factors: lifestyle (urban and rural population), division of labor (manual and manual workers), social roles (father, doctor, politician), etc., which leads to differences in the degree of ownership of property, income, power, achievement , prestige, education.

The different levels of social development are basis for social inequality, the emergence of rich and poor, the stratification of society, its stratification (a stratum layer that includes people with the same income, power, education, prestige).

Income- the amount of cash receipts received by a person per unit of time. It may be labor, or it may be the possession of property that “works”.

Education- a complex of knowledge obtained in educational institutions. Its level is measured by the number of years of study. Let's say, incomplete secondary school - 9 years. The professor has more than 20 years of education behind him.

Power- the ability to impose your will on other people, regardless of their desire. It is measured by the number of people to whom it applies.

Prestige- this is an assessment of the position of the individual in society, prevailing in public opinion.

Causes of social inequality

Can a society exist without social inequality? Apparently, in order to answer the question posed, it is necessary to understand the reasons that give rise to the unequal position of people in society. In sociology, there is no single universal explanation for this phenomenon. Various scientific and methodological schools and trends interpret it differently. We single out the most interesting and noteworthy approaches.

Functionalism explains inequality based on the differentiation of social functions performed by different layers, classes, communities. The functioning and development of society is possible only thanks to the division of labor, when each social group carries out the solution of the corresponding vital tasks for the entire integrity: some are engaged in the production of material goods, others create spiritual values, others manage, etc. For the normal functioning of society an optimal combination of all types of human activity is necessary. Some of them are more important, others less. So, on the basis of the hierarchy of social functions, a corresponding hierarchy of classes, layers is formed performing them. Those who carry out the general leadership and administration of the country are invariably placed at the top of the social ladder, for only they can support and ensure the unity of society, create the necessary conditions for the successful performance of other functions.

The explanation of social inequality by the principle of functional utility is fraught with a serious danger of a subjectivist interpretation. Indeed, why is this or that function considered as more significant, if society as an integral organism cannot exist without functional diversity. This approach does not allow explaining such realities as the recognition of an individual as belonging to the highest stratum in the absence of his direct participation in management. That is why T. Parsons, considering the social hierarchy as a necessary factor that ensures the viability social system, links its configuration with the system of dominant values ​​in society. In his understanding, the location of social strata on the hierarchical ladder is determined by the ideas that have formed in society about the significance of each of them.

Observations of the actions and behavior of specific individuals gave impetus to the development status explanation of social inequality. Each person, occupying a certain place in society, acquires his own status. is an inequality of status, resulting both from the ability of individuals to perform a particular social role (for example, to be competent to manage, to have the appropriate knowledge and skills to be a doctor, lawyer, etc.), and from the opportunities that allow a person to achieve one or another position in society (ownership of property, capital, origin, belonging to influential political forces).

Consider economic view to the problem. In accordance with this point of view, the root cause of social inequality lies in the unequal attitude to property, the distribution of material wealth. most brightly this approach appeared in Marxism. According to his version, the emergence of private property led to the social stratification of society, the formation antagonistic classes. The exaggeration of the role of private property in the social stratification of society led Marx and his followers to the conclusion that it is possible to eliminate social inequality by establishing public ownership of the means of production.

The lack of a unified approach to explaining the origins of social inequality is due to the fact that it is always perceived at least at two levels. First, as a property of society. Written history knows no societies without social inequality. The struggle of people, parties, groups, classes is a struggle for the possession of greater social opportunities, advantages and privileges. If inequality is an inherent property of society, then it carries a positive functional load. Society reproduces inequality because it needs it as a source of life support and development.

Secondly, inequality always perceived as unequal relations between people, groups. Therefore, it becomes natural to seek to find the origins of this unequal position in the peculiarities of a person's position in society: in the possession of property, power, in the personal qualities of individuals. This approach is now widely used.

Inequality has many faces and manifests itself in various parts of a single social organism: in the family, in an institution, at an enterprise, in small and large social groups. It is necessary condition organizations social life . Parents, having an advantage in experience, skills, financial means compared with their young children, have the opportunity to influence the latter, facilitating their socialization. The functioning of any enterprise is carried out on the basis of the division of labor into managerial and subordinate-executive. The appearance of a leader in the team helps to unite it, turn it into a stable education, but at the same time it is accompanied by the provision leader of special rights.

Any, organization strive to save inequalities seeing in it ordering beginning, without which it is impossible reproduction social connections and integration of the new. The same property belongs to society as a whole.

Ideas about social stratification

All societies known to history were organized in such a way that some social groups always had a privileged position over others, which was expressed in an unequal distribution of social benefits and powers. In other words, social inequality is inherent in all societies without exception. Even the ancient philosopher Plato argued that any city, no matter how small it may be, is actually divided into two halves - one for the poor, the other for the rich, and they are at enmity with each other.

Therefore, one of the basic concepts of modern sociology is "social stratification" (from Latin stratum - layer + facio - I do). Thus, the Italian economist and sociologist V. Pareto believed that social stratification, changing in form, existed in all societies. At the same time, as the famous sociologist of the XX century believed. P. Sorokin, in any society, at any time, there is a struggle between the forces of stratification and the forces of leveling.

The concept of "stratification" came to sociology from geology, where they denote the location of the Earth's layers along a vertical line.

Under social stratification we will understand the vertical cut of the location of individuals and groups in horizontal layers (strata) according to such characteristics as income inequality, access to education, the amount of power and influence, and professional prestige.

In Russian, the analogue of this recognized concept is social stratification.

The basis of stratification is social differentiation - the process of emergence of functionally specialized institutions and division of labor. A highly developed society is characterized by a complex and differentiated structure, a diverse and rich status-role system. At the same time, some social statuses and roles are inevitably preferable and more productive for individuals, as a result of which they are more prestigious and desirable for them, and some are considered by the majority as somewhat humiliating, associated with a lack of social prestige and a low standard of living in general. It does not follow from this that all statuses that have arisen as a product of social differentiation are arranged in a hierarchical order; some of them, such as age, do not contain grounds for social inequality. Thus, the status of a young child and the status of a nursing infant are not unequal, they are simply different.

Inequality between people exists in every society. This is quite natural and logical, given that people differ in their abilities, interests, life preferences, value orientations, etc. In every society, there are poor and rich, educated and uneducated, enterprising and unenterprising, those in power and those without it. In this regard, the problem of the origin of social inequality, attitudes towards it and ways to eliminate it has always aroused increased interest, not only among thinkers and politicians, but also among ordinary people who consider social inequality as an injustice.

In the history of social thought, the inequality of people was explained in different ways: by the initial inequality of souls, divine providence, imperfection of human nature, functional necessity by analogy with the body.

German economist K. Marx linked social inequality with the emergence of private property and the struggle of interests of various classes and social groups.

German sociologist R. Dahrendorf also believed that the economic and status inequality underlying the ongoing conflict of groups and classes and the struggle for the redistribution of power and status is formed as a result of the market mechanism for regulating supply and demand.

Russian-American sociologist P. Sorokin explained the inevitability of social inequality by the following factors: internal biopsychic differences of people; the environment (natural and social), which objectively puts individuals in an unequal position; the joint collective life of individuals, which requires the organization of relations and behavior, which leads to the stratification of society into the ruled and the managers.

American sociologist T. Pearson explained the existence of social inequality in every society by the presence of a hierarchical system of values. For example, in American society, success in business and career is considered the main social value, therefore, scientists of technological specialties, plant directors, etc., have a higher status and income, while in Europe the dominant value is “preservation of cultural patterns”, due to what society gives special prestige to humanities intellectuals, clergymen, university professors.

Social inequality, being inevitable and necessary, manifests itself in all societies at all stages of historical development; only the forms and degree of social inequality change historically. Otherwise, individuals would lose the incentive to engage in complex and laborious, dangerous or uninteresting activities, to improve their skills. With the help of inequality in income and prestige, society encourages individuals to engage in necessary, but difficult and unpleasant professions, encourages more educated and talented people, and so on.

The problem of social inequality is one of the most acute and topical in modern Russia. A feature of the social structure of Russian society is a strong social polarization - the division of the population into poor and rich in the absence of a significant middle stratum, which is the basis of an economically stable and developed state. Strong social stratification, characteristic of modern Russian society, reproduces a system of inequality and injustice, in which the opportunities for independent self-realization in life and raising social status are limited for a fairly large part of the Russian population.