social inequality leads to economic instability

 social inequality leads to economic instability

Sociologists have often explained that there is a significant relationship between social inequality and poverty. Poverty is a great social problem that is faced by various nations across the globe. Social inequality is considered to be a major determinant of poverty levels of a nation. At a micro level, social inequality has an adverse effect on the education of poor people and households. Inequality tends to lower the performance of students from poor performance resulting from the segregation effects. Children from poor families are more likely to be less successful in education hence not attaining great skills required for economic growth hence ending up unemployed or with low income or in poverty.

At a macro level, various sociologists have argued that social inequality leads to economic instability. Illustratively, richer people tend to consume a less proportion of their income compared to the poor. Eventually, they save the money which would have been spend by the low-income earners resulting in a decrease in the aggregate demand. Notably, a decline in aggregate demand leads to an increase in unemployment. Unemployment means that more people will end up poor or will remain poor hence making it hard to eradicate the issue of poverty (Pilke & Stocchetti, 2016).

Sociological theories on poverty enable readers and sociologists to have a deeper insight into the major causes of poverty across the globe. The functionalism theory enables one fathom that poverty exist based on one’s functions in a society. Illustratively, a doctor or surgeon is expected to be paid more since he or she has a highly skilled function compare to a gateman (Mouzelis, 1993). This theory enables one to understands that stratification and poverty exist since people have to be encouraged using high incomes if they pursue careers that are thought to be important. Therefore, the factor that there are different careers, some of which are more important and others are less important means that there will always be stratification hence poverty across the world.

Additionally, conflict theory also offers great insight into the causes of poverty across the globe. Based on the theory, it is evident that poverty emerges from the lack of opportunity due to prejudice or discrimination. That is, poverty arises from the conflict of interest and the needs of the elite or powerful in the community. The elite class tends to take advantage of the rest of the community members and ensure that they remain at the top irrespective of whether they will have to oppress others (Mouzelis, 1993). Therefore, since the political elite or the higher class communities have to ensure that their interest is addressed, they make use of the media, law and different institutions to ensure that the community remains stratified and some people are left poor. Therefore, it is vivid that the theories enable sociologists to understand that poverty arises from the functional setting of the community as well as the conflicting interest of the top or elite class and the rest of the community in a given society.

Based on the comprehension of the causes of poverty, it is vivid that it is hard to eradicate poverty. However, various measures could be put in place t alleviate the rate or level of poverty across the globe. To start with, improving access and quality of education to low-income earners and poor households is an important measure ion alleviating poverty. The quality of education that members of a community get enables them to take advantage of the economic and social opportunities in their environment (Salmon, 2002). Government programs should ensure that low income and poor families have access to education to ensure that they attain the required skills to attain high paying jobs and careers hence evading being poor.

Another significant solution to poverty is income redistribution. Income redistributions are of great importance in the community since it heavily influences the cohesion of a community. Notably, income redistribution refers to the utilization of taxes and policies to redistribute income in an economy or society (Salmon, 2002). Through income redistribution, poor families will be ion an apposition to save their income since the government will tax less of it or not tax hence allowing them to increase their disposable income as well as savings which will significantly reduce income.

Apart from that governments can also aim at achieving an egalitarian society. That is a society whose objective is reducing the discrepancies between various social classes and uniform distribution of power and wealth across various social classes. Notably, such a society will discourage the elite class from pursuing any individual intentions hence hindering them from stratifying the society into different classes (Salmon, 2002). The factor that in egalitarian societies everyone is considered to be equal makes them a great solution for dealing with poverty which heavily strikes capitalistic societies. In conclusion, it is vivid that improving the quality of education and its accessibility, promoting an egalitarian society and redistribution of income would effectively alleviate the rate and level of income across the world hence creating a better world for all people across the globe.