Inequality: A Sociological Analysis

Throughout the progression of our society, there have been an increasing number of the types of inequalities, specifically in our aspect of the class system. Inequality is defined as, “the extent of disproportion between each share of things held and the proportion each category or holder constitutes of the total number of categories or holders” (Waldman 1977: 229). Consequently, the proportion of which objects of value are held in our society correlates with our creation of the class system. The exploitation of those who are below one's class status, while being exploited by those in a higher position was a part of our society before the introduction of capitalism. Moreover, those who are in lower positions of power are easily exploited for the hierarchy of the social class system to remain consistent and …show more content…
As the inequalities continued to thrive, they began to create more injustices in many other aspects of one’s life. Many sociologists have observed the social class gradients of mortality and “has shown consistently that those in the lower classes have higher mortality, morbidity and disability rates” (Schwartz, Kart 1978:398). While society continues to distance the classes, the gaps between the classes medical inequalities continues to grow. In order to change our current issues with health and social inequality the “commitment to health equality, that is, to reduce social inequalities in health, rests on ethical values, specifically the principle of distributive justice” (Braveman 2003: 307). Overall, for one society to completely commit to the equality of health and medicine and how it is distributed throughout society, different sociological perspectives are able to have theoretically diverse opinions. This paper will show how critical sociology and structural functionalism both view the idea of health and