Making Sense of Poverty: Social Inequality and Social Exclusion

HH/HLST 3510 Poverty and Health May 15, 2013

Defining Social Inequality

Social inequality can refer to any of the differences between people (or the socially defined positions they occupy) that are consequential for the lives they lead, most particularly for the rights or opportunities they exercise and the rewards or privileges they enjoy.
- Grabb, E. Theories of Social Inequality, 2004, p. 2

Defining Social Exclusion

Social exclusion is defined as a multidimensional process, in which various forms of exclusion are combined: participation in decision-making and political processes, access to employment and material resources, and integration into common cultural processes. When combined they create acute forms of exclusion that find a spatial representation in particular neighbourhoods.
- Madanipour, A., Cars, G., & Allen, J., 1998. Social Exclusion in European

Role of Theory
Does the theorization explain the phenomena of interest? Does the theorization allow the making of predictions concerning the phenomena? Does the theorization point the way to further areas of fruitful inquiry? Does the theorization point the way to means of improving the situation?

Three Forms of Knowledge (Park, 1993)

Instrumental (or positivist) knowledge is developed through traditional scientific approaches. It is concerned with controlling physical and social environments. Interactive (or lived) knowledge is derived from sharing lived experiences. It is concerned with understanding and the connections among human beings. Critical knowledge is derived from reflection and action on what is right and just. It is concerned with raising consciousness about the causes of problems and means of alleviating them.

Positivist Approaches

There are no fundamental differences between natural and social science inquiries Purpose of inquiry is to develop general principles and laws and identify cause and effect relationships present in the world Knowledge is advanced through observation of the observable and measurable There is a distinction between facts and values; inquiry is value-free Tendency to view phenomena at the individual level Emphasis on experimental methods, surveys, observations within a quantitative methodology Focus is upon individual characteristics and how these interact with environmental events to create poverty Key question: What are the correlates of poverty?

Idealist Approaches

Social reality is understood through meanings individuals placed on events Purpose of inquiry is to identify multiple realities that exist Individual is active creator of the world Reality results from the interaction of the individuals with societal structures If events are perceived as real they are real in their consequences Emphasis on ethnographic methods whereby individuals understandings of the world are made explicit Focus on the lived experiences of poverty and how these shape individuals place and actions in the world Key question: What is the lived experience of poverty?

Realist Approaches

Reality exists independent of individuals constructions Interpretations individuals have of events are shaped by societal structures Individuals are active creators of the world Quest is for identifying underlying societal structures that influence events Concern with meanings and how they are shaped by societal structures manifested in idea of false consciousness by which individuals misunderstand their world Emphasis is on a variety of methods to identify the social structures that shape social phenomena and individuals understandings of these phenomena Focus on identifying the social structures that create poverty and individuals understandings of its incidence; identifying means of promoting social change Key question: Why are poverty rates in Canada so high as compared to other countries?

How Paradigms Shape Understandings of Poverty

Positivists

What are the characteristics of people who are poor?

Idealists

What is the lived experience of poverty?

Realists or Critical Researchers

What are the societal structures that shape the incidence and experience of poverty?

Role of Critical Theory (Realism)

Identification of the underlying mechanisms or structures that leads to phenomenon such as poverty; Examination of the role that relations among classes, status groups, and associations play in creating patterns of poverty; Placing these relationships into a whole in the context of the economic and political system; Identifying how these structures both come about and can be changed.

C. Wright Mills on the Key Questions to Facing Social Scientists What is the structure of this particular society as a whole? What are its essential components, and how are they related to one another? How does it differ from other varieties of social order? Within it, what is the meaning of any particular feature for its continuance and for its change?

C. Wright Mills on the Key Questions to Facing Social Scientists

Where does this society stand in human history? What are the mechanics by which it is changing? What is its place within and its meaning for the development of humanity as a whole? How does any particular feature we are examining affect, and how is it affected by, the historical period in which it moves? And this period-what are its essential features? How does it differ from other periods? What are its characteristic ways of history-making?

C. Wright Mills on the Key Questions to Facing Social Scientists

What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society and in this period? And what varieties are coming to prevail? In what ways are they selected and formed, liberated and repressed, made sensitive and blunted? What kinds of human nature are revealed in the conduct and character we observe in this society in this period? And what is the meaning for human nature of each and every feature of the society we are examining

Social Structures I

For many sociologists and other theorists, social structures are patterns of relations or relationships that are systematically associated with inequalities in wealth, power, and prestige. Karl Marxs view was that in capitalist economies class represents the key social structure that shapes peoples lives including the existence of social inequalities. The key factor shaping social inequalities and the existence of poverty is the economic system and the relationship of owners to workers.

Social Structures II

Social structures can also refer to the organization of the state or government, agencies and organizations, and other societal institutions that shape human interactions. Governments develop and implement public policies that determine the distribution of wealth, power, and prestige among the population. In this manner governments have the ability to create, maintain, or lessen social inequalities among the population. Governments at all levels federal, provincial, or local influence the incidence and effects of social inequality.

Role of Governments

One view is that the state is merely a reflection and tool of the ruling economic elites that manage the economic system. Another view is that the state operates independently of these forces. A midpoint view argues that while the state is profoundly influenced by these economic elites, there is room for independent governmental action.

Karl Marx: Class

History is all about class, class relations, and class conflict In the modern era, the rise of capitalism has seen the creation of two classes: bourgeoisie and proletariat. The bourgeoisie represent those who control the economic system or in the words of Marx, the means of production. The proletariat represents those who must sell their labour for wages. Capitalism exists because it creates patterns of relations between these two classes that Marx saw as very problematic. Social inequality for Marx is built into the nature of these relations.

Max Weber: Class, Status, Party

Weber identified multiple bases of power differentials in society. In addition to class, Weber identified status and party as determinants of social inequality. For Weber, the politics of everyday life was essentially a struggle among individuals for power and influence. Class determined ones power and influence in the economic sphere of life. But status afforded one power and influence in the social honour or prestige spheres of life. Both kinds of power are associated with access to greater material resources resulting in different life chances.

Legitimate Authority

Charismatic legitimization or authority occurs when those who are dominated admire characteristics of those dominating them. Legal legitimization or authority involves acceptance of domination because subordinates believe that both the position of the authority and their own position is in fact legal according to law. Traditional legitimization or authority is when the right to be dominated is accepted though this right may not exist in law.

Illegitimate Authority
These include being dominated by force of habit Allowing domination because opportunities exist for personal advantage or profit Domination as an alternative to punishment or reprisal Domination because no alternative appears to be possible

Class Analysis of Poverty

Neo-Marxist View of Poverty

Poverty is not an accident; it is not a by-product. It is an inherent and crucial, feature of a society whose economic structure is grounded in class and exploitation. The pivotal idea is that there are powerful and privileged actors who have an active interest in maintaining poverty. It is not just that poverty is an unfortunate consequence of their material interests, it is an essential condition for the realization of their interests. To put it bluntly, capitalists and other exploiting classes benefit from poverty.
Source: Wright, E. O. (1994). The Class Analysis of Poverty. In E. O. Wright (Ed.), Interrogating Inequality (pp. 32-50). New York: Verso.

Class Analysis of Poverty

The persistence of extreme levels of poverty occurs not because powerful elites have mistaken ideas of what is in their interests and what would solve poverty, nor because they are short-sighted or unenlightened, but because they benefit from the existence of poverty and have unchallenged power .
Source: Wright, 1994, p. 38.

Class Analysis of Poverty

Critical Thinking Questions

What are the key determinants of the distribution of power and resources, according to Marx and Weber?

Critical Thinking Questions

What do you think are the determinants of the distribution of power and resources in Canada? Are your views consistent with those of Marx, Weber, both of them, or neither of them?

Social Exclusion

Galabuzi, G. E. (2005). Canadas Economic Apartheid: The Social Exclusion of Racialized Groups in the New Century. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.

Galabuzi, G. E. (2005). Canadas Economic Apartheid: The Social Exclusion of Racialized Groups in the New Century. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.

Galabuzi, G. E. (2005). Canadas Economic Apartheid: The Social Exclusion of Racialized Groups in the New Century. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.

Critical Thinking Questions

What are the areas of overlap between the concepts of social inequality and social exclusion? In what ways do they differ?

Critical Thinking Questions

Do you think social inequality and social exclusion are increasing in Canada? On what do you base your opinion?

Critical Thinking Questions

How can social inequality and social exclusion be reduced?

Critical Thinking Questions

What are the consequences for Canada of not addressing social inequality and social exclusion?