Inequality

How it is used

One of the most frequent words in sociology. Common types are income inequality, wealth inequality, gender inequality and health inequalities. Inequality is said to be reproduced, widened, reduced or measured; the Gini coefficient is a common measure of income inequality.

Example sentences

1. Income inequality widened in many industrialised countries during the 1980s and 1990s.

2. Her research shows how schools can reproduce inequality between children from different backgrounds.

Common collocations

• social inequality
• income inequality
• reproduce inequality
• reduce inequality
• health inequalities

Related terms

• social stratificationThe way a society ranks groups of people in layers, or strata, so that some have more wealth, power and prestige than others.
• social classA large group of people who share a similar economic position, such as income, wealth, occupation and education, and often similar life chances.
• povertyA situation in which people lack the money or resources to meet their basic needs or to take part in the normal life of their society.
• social exclusionA situation in which individuals or groups are shut out from full participation in society, such as work, education, housing, services or political life.
• intersectionalityThe idea that social categories such as gender, race, class and disability overlap, so that people experience combined and distinct forms of advantage or disadvantage.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• inequality · Mathematics
• inequality · Economics

More terms: Class, Stratification and Inequality

• social mobility
• bourgeoisie
• proletariat
• working class
• middle class
• cultural capital
• social capital
• socioeconomic status (SES)