Social inequality describes the extent of the differences between various groups in the society (Sernau, 2010). In many societies worldwide, differences among people not only create diverse communities but also establish variations in their access to various opportunities and income sources (Western, et al., 2012). Consequently, the social differences create strata or layers in the society. In the UK, for example, social stratification is observed in the class system where individuals with similar characteristics belong to a particular social class (Savage, et al., 2013).
A typical example of social inequality in the UK is the social difference involving wealth and income. Usually, income covers a person’s total earnings from sources such as pension payments, employment, and dividends. Wealth, however, includes income and the aggregate value of assets such as vehicles and land. Frequently, Gini coefficients are used to determine the income inequality in a given society and make inequality comparisons between different countries (BBC, n. d.). For instance, a country with a Gini coefficient close to zero percentage is considered as having a relatively lower inequality level. In the UK, Gini coefficient statistics demonstrates that income disparity has grown in some decades and fallen in others over time. Before 1979, for example, income disparity was systematically below thirty percent but began to increase in the 1980s until 2008 (BBC, n. d.).
Presently, the primary forms of social stratification include caste, slavery, and class systems (Giddens and Sutton, 2012). Sex slavery prevails in many parts of Asia whereas debt slavery is evident in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal (International Labour Organization, 2005). The caste system, founded on ascribed statuses such as gender, race, and nationality, originated from Hinduism. Although the Indian government outlawed the system in 1949, vestiges of the caste system persist in India (Desai and Dubey, 2012). Another example of caste systems is the South African apartheid system. The effort of Nelson Mandela in fighting for nonwhite equality helped to outlaw the system in South Africa. Nevertheless, discrimination and prejudice recurs frequently in the country (le Roux, 2014). The typical stratification arrangement globally is the class system, which utilizes achieved statuses to determine an individual’s position in the society.
