Society has traditionally been trying to identify the main causes of social inequality, which are the basic sources for exacerbating various social conflicts, including civil wars and coups. In modern Russia, significant social processes are taking place that give rise to completely new forms of differentiation of society represented by social institutions and social relations. In order to eliminate critical indicators of social inequality, it is necessary to constantly assess them. Moreover, the importance of this aspect of the social structure in modern discrimination of certain social categories of Russians is acquiring extremely paramount importance.
It is completely obvious that the structure of any society is not homogeneous, since it is always divided into different groups according to national, class, gender, demographic and other characteristics. It is precisely this type of heterogeneity that gives rise to such injustices in the social system as latent violence and infringement of human dignity.
Of course, in the modern world, the forms of influence of some groups of people over others are not so pronounced, which was the order of things in epic times. This is because the social hierarchy in a democratic society is subordinated, first of all, to the principles of "European humanism", which excludes any form of aggressive coercion outside the legal field.
The general concept of social inequality
In the entire history of the existence of mankind, various models of the state, political and economic structure have been tested, in which it could not achieve that "golden balance" of the social structure, when all individuals could be endowed with the same living conditions offered by society. And it is the concept of "social inequality" that determines the different level of accessibility of various social groups to such resources as power, fame and finances.
It turns out that social stratification (a system of criteria for stratifying society into different social groups) is objectively embedded in any model of human society, since only under the condition of class differences society is sufficiently motivated for its progressive development. Indeed, even with the primitive structure of primitive society, when the leaders ruled clans or tribes, there was a clear hierarchy, implying the existence of power and subordinate structures.
With the development of society, the hierarchy of the social structure became more complicated. Mankind has not only developed economically and has been striving for continuous improvement of political forms of interaction, trying the most diverse state levers of government, but has also always been concerned about achieving an optimal balance between all social groups of the population. It is the balanced interaction between all sectors of society that leads to the most effective development and comfortable conditions for interaction between them.
By the way, the historical experience of our country can also be considered an objective contribution to the global treasury of knowledge on this issue. After all, a communist society as an ideal form of social justice could not be created. And at that stage of its construction, when developed socialism was to become the forerunner of the crown of social justice, society was stratified not only by the classes of workers and peasants proclaimed by the state (the intelligentsia was considered a stratum and a temporary phenomenon, and partocracy was not classified into a separate group, associating itself with official classes), but also on those social structures that govern the people in all spheres of life.
It turns out that social inequality is an objectively determined tool of any social structure, since it is this that creates the necessary motivating structures for the normal development of mankind.
Reasons for Social Inequality
Despite the many options for assessing social inequality from the legislators of the scientific community on this issue, including Herbert Spencer, Ludwig Gumplovich, William Sumner, Karl Marx and others, there are only two basic reasons for its occurrence.
The first of these is the uneven distribution by society of the material resources that it has. It is the difference in assessing the contribution of each to the common treasury of human values that is the fundamental reason for generating inequality. Naturally, each individual makes his own unique contribution to the development of society, which depends on his individual level of capabilities and the willingness of society to accept this work from him.
The second factor in the emergence of social inequality is the principle of inheritance of the rights to possess various values and privileges, which provide additional opportunities for the distribution of various kinds of resources (power, prestige and money). Modern people in our country more than once face, for example, the problem of employment, when, all other things being equal, it is protectionism that becomes a decisive factor for occupying an interesting position or implementing a professional project.
The last reason for social inequality is based both on the unequal accessibility of decent education for various social groups of the population, and on various professional startups with the same level of training. Here we can distinguish subjective and objective criteria, which are expressed in the possession of levels of material wealth, education, income, position and other resources. Despite the rather stable part of modern society called the "middle class", the difference between the other social groups of Russian society can truly be considered "frantic." Indeed, the abyss between the oligarchs and the homeless cannot be considered justified only because some are engaged in managing the domestic economy, while others have lost even the meaning of their existence.
And even the middle class from Russia at the present time cannot be considered that part of modern society where social justice has triumphed, because today this class is only at the stage of formation. Moreover, the difference between conditionally its "elite" and the "bottom" is already becoming striking, which eloquently testifies to the relevance of this topic.
The apparatus of officials deserves separate words, which, by the definition of the order of things, has an increased resource in the distribution of various benefits and privileges. Indeed, in connection with the positions held, these civil servants exercise appropriate control and supervision, which accordingly leads to their status.
In addition, it is important to remember the very human essence, which has always been oriented towards climbing the social ladder, guided exclusively by a personal motive to achieve the most favorable position in society.
Classification of types of social inequality
When considering the topic of social inequality, it is important to operate with such a concept as "social deprivation" (reducing the individual's ability to communicate within society in functional and cultural aspects).
In this context, four categories of deprivation should be distinguished: economic, social, ethical and mental.
Economic deprivation stems from the uneven distribution of material resources of society. In this matter, two factors should be distinguished: objective and subjective. It is precisely due to the presence of subjective deprivation that a situation sometimes arises when a fully sufficient person inclines to a feeling of underestimating his abilities. Such a situation today is quite favorable soil for the creation, for example, of new religious movements.
Social deprivation uses such resources as power, prestige and money as a motivation for social development. This happens in order to distinguish individual groups of people from the total mass.
Ethical deprivation often arises between society and intellectuals because of a value conflict of interests. This disagreement arises from the fact that the moral ideals of individuals and groups diverge from generally accepted norms.
Mental deprivation is similar to ethical deprivation. However, the disagreement of an individual or group of people and society concerns exclusively such values as the meaning of life, faith in God, and the search for new life priorities. It should be understood that often mental deprivation arises from economic or social deprivation and is aimed at leveling objective forms of deprivation.
