Unemployment In Australia

Unemployment is one the main problems in the world and it influenced the society in many ways. Unemployment can be caused by economic issues, technology and social inequalities such as factories closed, gender inequality, disability, low education level and unemployment will not only bring financial issues but will also cause mental health issues, family issues, increase crime rates and so on. In this essay, the focus will be put on the unemployment in Australia as Australia has a very high rate of unemployment. Moreover, this essay will first define the meaning of unemployment and explain how technology and gender inequality influence the rate of unemployment as well as why it can be viewed as a social problem in Australia, by using the sociological

According to Bessant and Watts (2007) that conflict theory is “a group of theories, including Marxism and feminism, which argue that all social orders are characterised by social conflict, typically between classes or gender groups, over which groups should control valued resources like wealth, power and property” (p.484). This explains that conflict theory focus on the social inequality because of the limited resources and these resources hold by the rich, upper class. Marx’s conflict theory focuses on that the world is in a pyramid structure and those at the top of the pyramid are called bourgeoisie they belong to the upper class and control the most power, wealth and exploits the lower class, those at the bottom of the pyramid are called proletariat they belong to the lower class and the proletariat work for the bourgeoisie for living. (Bessant & Watts, 2007, p.7). Marx’s conflict theory clearly demonstrates that the society is uneven. Furthermore, Marx viewed unemployment as a key component of capitalism, as unemployment pushed people to compete for jobs thus decreased the upward pressure on salaries. (Pacitti, 2011, p.1). This explains that unemployment is just a tool used by the upper class as the upper class wants to have the most profits, so they give pressure to the lower class. In addition, Marx suggested that women are considered as super-exploited in the working class and faced oppressive situation under the capital system as women have special family responsibilities. (Emami, 1990, p.213). This shows that there is a clearly sexual gap in the labour party and women are experienced oppressive status. Therefore, applying Marx’s conflict theory of unemployment of Australia can be following: the upper class controls the most power and wealth, so they have more resources to study and understand new skills while the lower class have limited resources they