Shwalbe Power And Inequality Summary

The first four chapters of Schwalbe’s book explain what inequality is and how it continues reproduce itself in society. I felt that his approach in defining inequality was a bit problematic because he asserts that simply thinking about inequality in terms of class, gender, or race can be distracting, yet he then goes on to say that it is impossible to completely separate these terms from inequality. According to Schwalbe, these terms are embedded in inequality because they are just one of the ways people have differentiated themselves in attempt to create superior in-groups and exploited ostracized out-groups. However, I do appreciate how he argued that it is more useful to think of what resources are available to people because of their ascribed status. I believe that saying that inequality is a result of differences in class, gender, and race oversimplifies the matter and gives room for people to ignore other privileges they have that also create inequality in society such as physical and mental ability, sexual orientation, body size, etc.
In essence, Schwalbe’s view on inequality and its production could be seen as an

Both believed that power was at the base of all forms of inequality Schwalbe elaborated on this by showing the link between power and inequality. According to him, power is heavily linked to the definition of reality because those in power are able to shape people’s emotions using ideology. By using ideology to manipulate the masses, the dominant group can shape meanings and perceptions on an issue to their benefit. Furthermore, Schwalbe claims power depends on having the skills and resources to get other to cooperate. Since groups have unequal access to resources (e.g. money, land) and skills (e.g. knowledge, ideas) some groups will have more power than others. However, one could argue that this relationship influences each other as the unequal access could be seen as a result of unequal