Reducing inequality, and globalisation

Last time

Before we start: last time, in Social control and conformity, you learned these points. Here they are again on one card. Keep them in mind, because today builds on them.

Can inequality be reduced?

Governments have tried many ways to reduce inequality: welfare, education, and laws against discrimination. Meanwhile globalisation has changed inequality between countries. This lesson covers both.

The welfare state

A welfare state is where the government provides support for people's basic needs: health care, education, housing, pensions and benefits. It reduces absolute poverty and gives poorer people better life chances. Critics on the right say it creates dependency; critics on the left say benefits are too low to end poverty.

Education and redistribution

Free education gives children from poorer families a chance of upward mobility. Progressive taxes take more from the rich, and the money is spent on services for the poor: redistribution. Minimum wages raise the incomes of the lowest paid.

Equal opportunities laws

Equal opportunities laws make it illegal to treat people unfairly because of gender, ethnicity, religion, disability or age. Examples: equal pay laws, so men and women are paid the same for the same work; and laws against racial discrimination in jobs and housing. Laws help, but discrimination can continue in hidden ways, such as the glass ceiling.

Have the attempts worked?

Successes: poverty has fallen in many countries, more girls go to school, and open discrimination is now illegal. Limits: the gap between rich and poor has grown in many places, and the pay gap persists. Marxists argue inequality cannot end while capitalism continues; functionalists argue some inequality is useful.

Globalisation

Globalisation is the growing connection of the world's economies, cultures and peoples through trade, travel, media and the internet. Multinational companies, global media and migration are key drivers. It affects inequality between and within societies.

Globalisation and inequality

Some developing countries have grown fast through trade and investment, reducing poverty. But multinationals may exploit cheap labour, and profits often flow to richer countries. Within countries, skilled workers in global industries may gain while others are left behind.

Cultural diversity

Cultural diversity means many cultures living in one society. It can enrich society: new foods, music, ideas, and skills from migrants. It can also bring tension and prejudice, and pressure on minority cultures to assimilate.

Ways to reduce inequality

The main approaches, each with a limit, for a discuss answer.

Mistakes that lose marks

Mistake one: giving examples of equal opportunities laws that are not laws, such as a charity. Mistake two: saying globalisation only helps, or only harms. Mistake three: describing cultural diversity without its effects on society. The fix: precise examples, both sides, and effects.

The full-marks tip

The full-marks tip: for each attempt to reduce inequality, say how it helps and its limit. For globalisation and diversity, give positive and negative effects.

On one card

So, on one card: reducing inequality. Keep it for revision.