Social equality is the concept of equal treatment, opportunities, and access to resources for all members of society. It is different from socialism, as it does not mean everyone has the same amount of resources. Social inequality can be caused by factors such as income, gender, race, religion, or ethnicity. Some governments promote social equality through granting basic rights, but economic position remains a huge dividing factor. Some believe social equality is a myth, while others believe societies can eliminate inequities.
Social equality is a concept that is rarely fully achieved, whereby all members of a society have completely equal treatment, opportunities and access to resources. There would be a few layers of separation, such as differences between genders, races, religious groups or income, which give some people more opportunities than others. This is different from socialism, where everyone has roughly the same amount of resources. Instead, true social equality means that regardless of what members of society have or who they are, they are treated equally and have equal opportunities.
The idea of social equality is often intimately linked to the concepts of egalitarianism in both its forms. This concept either represents the sense, from a political point of view, that all people deserve equal rights and treatment, or it is a movement that proposes that a society should specifically direct its resources towards the promotion of wealth equality. The latter position is more of a socialist approach, and the former is adopted by many countries. The two definitions are argued to be related, because in so many societies, wealth confers additional power, and without addressing income inequality, there can be no true social equality.
Many sociologists suggest that few societies achieve total social equality because there are so many ways societies separate into different groups. Income level is a dividing factor, but other things that create some form of social inequality include discrimination based on gender, race, religion or ethnicity. Some governments actively promote social equality by granting basic rights to all citizens, such as the right to free speech, to vote, to trial by jury, and to freedom from discrimination. Even with these guarantees, all members of a society may not be equal. Inequalities such as the quality of education, even if it is public and free, can create differences in how citizens can avail themselves of fundamental rights.
As mentioned, economic position is a huge dividing factor in a variety of societies. Many countries work hard to correct this inequity to some extent by providing financial support to the neediest citizens. This is not always enough and can keep people in a cycle of poverty instead of giving them ways to rise through the strata of society.
An example of social inequality, in countries like the United States, occurs when people are accused of a serious crime. Impoverished defendants receive legal assistance from public defenders, who often struggle to provide support to many clients and may not have sufficient time to prepare a case. The rich person can simply hire a defense attorney. The latter defendant is more likely to defeat a charge or get a reduced sentence level, and he is also more likely to successfully defend himself against a charge if he is Caucasian. The large number of African American prisoners compared to Caucasians in US prisons points to possible social inequality that has not yet been remedied, suggesting that both race and monetary standing lead to unequal treatment in a system that is supposed to be completely equal.
The more pessimistic reviewers of human society call social equality a myth, something that can never truly be achieved, regardless of the intent of a society’s government, authors, or participants. Others take a more optimistic view and suggest that while full equality isn’t always possible, societies can still eliminate inequities. An engaged company can continue to work at all times to create more equal conditions for all its citizens.
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