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Social inequality by class
Unequal wealth distribution
Social inequalities
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Inequality in Canada is not as prominent as many other places around the world, although it does remain in certain segments of Canada. There are many forms of inequality in Canada and internationally, although this papers main focus is going to be the inequality of wealth. According to Steven Kerstetter “Canadians may view their country as a land of opportunity, but it is also a land of deep and abiding inequality in the distribution of personal wealth” (Kerstetter 2002). The “gaps between the rich and poor remain evident in Canadian statistics” (Kerstetter 2002), Canadians have always kept financial security as an essential element of life and have tried to obtain and sustain it within their lives. Frank Cunningham’s article, “What’s Wrong with Inequality”, describes six ways how growing inequality affects the Canadian public. The Rich Can Leave the Boat topic will be critically assessed throughout this paper, and I will discuss why I agree with Cunningham’s position on the matter, and how it relates to current events occurring today within the media. Overall, I agree with Frank Cunningham’s “The Rich Can Leave the Boat” on how wealth distribution and the acquirement of wealth in society has caused segregation within the public into two separate publics due to the fact that the different publics have different styles of living, and ways on how to obtain and sustain their wealth.
Due to the accumulation and acquirement of wealth in societies, the public has divided itself into two separate groups; people who are trying to obtain the little wealth they can, and those who have wealth and try to enhance it by any means. According to John Dewey in Cunningham’s article, the public “consists of all those who are affected by the indi...
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...Canada, “Canadians should create much more equality in the distribution of income. A limit on higher-level incomes, an equal distribution of wealth and equality amongst people in Canada will help contribute to greater income equality, one public in society, and a better quality of life for all Canadians (Black and Silver 2010)”.
Works Cited
1. Cunningham, F. (2007). Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. What’s wrong with inequality. 1, 5-6, 8.
2. Kerstetter, S. (2002). Rags and Riches: Wealth Inequality in Canada Summary. Retrieved June 9, 2010, from http://action.web.ca/home/housing/alerts.shtml?x=27062&AA_EX_Session=a3c74fdc3f1f836a1bd1b47bb49a00f3
3. Black, E., Silver, J. (2010). Reducing Canada’s income inequalities. Retrieved June 9, 2010, from http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/commentary/fast-facts-we-have-floor-now-we-need-ceiling
Stone, Chad, Danilo Trisi, Arloc Sherman, and William Chen. "Center on Budget and Policy Priorities." A Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends in Income Inequality. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 6 Nov. 2013. Web. 03 Dec. 2013. .
Stevenson, Garth. "Canadian Federalism: The Myth of the Status Quo." Reinventing Canada: Politics of the 21st Century. Ed. M. Janine Brodie and Linda Trimble. Toronto: Prentice Hall, 2003. 204-14. Print.
In Canada there is no official, government mandated poverty line. It is generally agreed that poverty refers to the intersection of low-income and other dimensions of ‘social exclusion’, including things such as access to adequate housing, essential goods and services, health and well-being and community participation. In Canada, the gap between the rich and poor is on the rise, with four million people struggling to find decent affordable housing, (CHRA) and almost 21% of children in BC are living in poverty it is crucial to address poverty (Stats Can). In class we have considered a number of sociological lens to examine poverty. Structural-functionalists maintain that stratification and inequality are inevitable and
Raphael, Dennis. Poverty in Canada: implications for health and quality of life. 2nd ed. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press Inc., 2011. Print.
With each class comes a certain level in financial standing, the lower class having the lowest income and the upper class having the highest income. According to Mantsios’ “Class in America” the wealthiest one percent of the American population hold thirty-four percent of the total national wealth and while this is going on nearly thirty-seven million Americans across the nation live in unrelenting poverty (Mantsios 284-6). There is a clear difference in the way that these two groups of people live, one is extreme poverty and the other extremely
It is apparent that women as a group continue to experience poverty and hardship more significantly than men. One of this week’s readings illustrates how women continue to juggle paid and unpaid work, insecure employment, have multiple jobs, and seasonal work with few work supported health benefits. It is evident that even in the twentieth century women face multiple barriers to employment. These barriers include: lack of good quality childcare, lack of affordable public transportation, inflexibility of employment and much more. The article by Reid and LeDrew states how, “more than 1,772,000 women in Canada live in poverty” (Reid and LeDrew, 2016, p. 54). The primary causes of women’s poverty are described as being labor market inequities, domestic circumstances, and welfare systems. However, overwhelming findings from the article states how women’s domestic responsibility limits
Raphael, D. D. (2002). Poverty, Income Inequality and Health in Canada. CSJ Foundation for Research and Education, 1-32.
Al-Waqfi, M., & Jain, H. C., (2008). RACIAL INEQUALITY IN EMPLOYMENT IN CANADA: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS AND EMERGING TRENDS.
Hurtig, M.(1999). Pay the Rent or Feed the Kids. The Tragedy and Disgrace of Poverty in Canada. Toronto. Canada. McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
“Parliament and the government of Canada are committed to the principle of making equalization payments to ensure that provincial governments have sufficient revenues to provide reasonably comparable levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation.”
Gender inequality has been a huge challenge not only in Canada but around the world. Males are often looked at as superior to women. Men have dominated in history; they are our famous theorists and physicists, they won wars and conquered the land. Unfortunately, even in today 's society women are continuing to be viewed as inferior compared to men. Women have overcome many obstacles throughout history including; education, the workplace, and even at home. Women have the right to be treated equally because they ARE equal.
We live in a world in which the term “equality” is not actually a thing one can fully confirm or rely on. Social differences do exist in a variety of ways that make individuals dream or think of capabilities and success as involuntary things, instead of earned and rewarded approaches. The differences between individuals, families or groups create a gap in the social structure of a country. Indeed, it is not the different statuses that make people unequal, but the way an individual reach a certain level or position is actually the real matter. Also, inequality is present in nearly all over the world; this affects individuals and societies in ways that create controversy among countries. To illustrate, in a meritocratic system, society would allow individuals to thrive and success according to the abilities, skills and hard work they acquire, such a system would be present in an ideal world; however this is not the issue. Nearly all countries in the world cannot be described as meritocratic. Meritocracy refers to the idea that individuals are given equal chances to pursue and reach their goals without any restrain or obligations based on gender, race or class (Superle, 2014). Individuals’ success in a meritocratic society is not based on one's inherited social class, power or wealth, but on one’s achievements (Superle, 2014). So, in a meritocratic country, one’s success will be fully based on his/her merit. The Canadian society cannot be described as meritocratic for several reasons.
The richest people who seem to keep getting richer have been walking into their wealth since the day they have been born. It has been proven by how the companies have been popping up around the world, how the companies are being bribed by governors trying to make their state seem more economically powerful. “Philips, Sony, and Toyota factories are popping up all over—to the self congratulatory applause of the nation’s governors and mayors, who have lured them with promises of tax abatements and new sewers, among other amenities.” (Paragraph 17) People are born into their jobs, and are doomed for their economic boats. IN other countries such as China, it has been proven that the families with the moneys are the ones with the money, are the ones with the economic power. “Many wealthy Chinese and western residents moved their money abroad and some actually left the colony. By 1971, the Cultural Revolution in China had ended in failure and conditions in Hong Kong calmed,” (Lannom) such as Gloria Lannom states, yet it took a while for Hong Kong to rebuild its economic standings because of this
Gunderson,M. (1994). Pay and Employment Equity in the United States and Canada. International Journal of Manpower,15(7), 26-43.
Income inequality continues to increase in today’s world, especially in the United States. Income inequality means the unequal distribution between individuals’ assets, wealth, or income. In the Twilight of the Elites, Christopher Hayes, a liberal journalist, states the inequality gap between the rich and the poor are increasing widening, and there need to have things done - tax the rich, provide better education - in order to shortening the inequality gap. America is a meritocratic country, which means that everybody has equal opportunity to be successful regardless of their class privileges or wealth. However, equality of opportunity does not equal equality of outcomes. People are having more opportunities to find a better job, but their incomes are a lot less compared to the top ten percent rich people. In this way, the poor people will never climb up the ladder to high status and become millionaires. Therefore, the government needs to increase all the tax rates on rich people in order to reduce income inequality.