Society traditionally tries to identify the main reasons for the emergence of social inequality, which are the basic sources for the exacerbation of various social conflicts, including civil wars and coups d'état. Significant social processes are taking place in modern Russia today, which give rise to completely new forms of differentiation of society, represented by social institutions and social relations. In order to exclude critical indicators of social inequality, it is necessary to constantly evaluate them. Moreover, the importance of this aspect of the social structure in the contemporary discrimination of certain social categories of Russians is of utmost importance.
It is quite obvious that the structure of any society is not homogeneous, since it is always subdivided into various groups according to nationality, class, gender, demographic and other characteristics. It is this type of heterogeneity that gives rise to such injustices in the social order 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 no longer so strongly expressed, which was in 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 exclude any form of aggressive coercion outside the legal field.
General concept of social inequality
Throughout the history of the existence of mankind, a variety of models of 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 precisely the concept of "social inequality" that determines the different level of accessibility of various social groups to such resources as power, fame and finance.
It turns out that social stratification (a system of criteria for stratifying society into various 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 a primitive society, when the leaders ruled over clans or tribes, there was a clear hierarchy that implied the existence of power and subordinate structures.
With the development of society, the very hierarchy of the social structure became more complicated. Humanity not only developed economically and sought continuous improvement of political forms of interaction, trying a variety of government levers of government, but has always been concerned with achieving an optimal balance between all social groups of the population. It is precisely the balanced interaction between all strata 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 collection 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 a harbinger of the crown of social justice, society was stratified not only into the classes of workers and peasants proclaimed by the state (the intelligentsia was considered a stratum and a temporary phenomenon, and the partocracy was not classified into a separate group, associating itself with the 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 conditioned instrument of any social structure, since it is this inequality that creates the necessary motivating structures for the normal development of mankind.
Causes of social inequality
Despite the many options for assessing social inequality from the legislators of the scientific community on this issue, including Herbert Spencer, Ludwig Gumplowicz, William Sumner, Karl Marx and others, there are only two basic reasons for its occurrence.
The first of them is the uneven distribution of the material resources that society has at its disposal. It is the difference in the assessment of the contribution of each to the common piggy bank of human values that is the fundamental reason for the generation of 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). A modern person in our country more than once encounters, for example, the problem of employment, when, all other things being equal, it is protectionism that becomes a decisive factor for taking up a position of interest or implementing a professional project.
The last reason for social inequality is based both on the unequal availability of a decent education for various social groups of the population, and on various professional startups with the same level of training. Here subjective and objective criteria can be distinguished, which are expressed in the possession of the levels of material wealth, education, income, position held and other resources. Despite the rather stable part of modern society, called the "middle class," the difference between other social groups in Russian society can truly be considered "crazy." After all, the abyss between oligarchs and homeless people cannot be considered justified only because some are involved in managing the domestic economy, while others have even lost 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 conventionally its "elite" and "bottom" is already becoming striking, which eloquently testifies to the relevance of this topic.
The bureaucrats' apparatus deserves separate words, which by definition of the order of things has an increased resource in the distribution of various benefits and privileges. Indeed, in connection with their positions, these civil servants exercise appropriate control and supervision, which accordingly leads to their status.
In addition, it is important to remember the very human nature, which has always been focused on climbing the social ladder, guided exclusively by the personal motive of achieving the most advantageous 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" (a decrease in the individual's ability to communicate within society in the functional and cultural aspects).
In this context, four categories of deprivation should be distinguished: economic, social, ethical and mental.
Economic deprivation results from the uneven distribution of society's material resources. In this issue, two factors should be distinguished: objective and subjective. It is precisely because of the presence of subjective deprivation that a situation sometimes arises when a completely sufficient person tends to feel that his abilities are underestimated. This situation is today quite fertile ground for the creation, for example, of new religious movements.
Social deprivation uses resources such as power, prestige and money as a motivation for social development. This happens in order to distinguish certain groups of people from the general mass.
Ethical deprivation often arises between society and intellectuals due to a value conflict of interests. This disagreement arises from the fact that the moral ideals of individuals and groups are at odds with generally accepted norms.
Mental deprivation is similar to ethical deprivation. However, the disagreement between an individual or a group of people and society concerns exclusively such values as the meaning of life, faith in God, 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 the objective forms of deprivation.
Adapting to social inequality
Despite the dissatisfaction of many members of society with social inequality, one should nevertheless take into account the universal nature of this tool for motivating the development of society throughout its existence.
Since social stratification is objectively determined by the economic, political and state norms of the development of society, then it should be perceived exclusively as inevitable costs of historical development. Of course, unequal access to material and spiritual values of public consumption causes a lot of indignation among the “disadvantaged” group of people.
However, it should always be remembered that today the socio-economic heterogeneity of labor and the inheritance of preferential positions in social stratification are objectively determined by the historical facts of the development of society. So the only way to achieve social justice should be considered the free and feasible contribution of everyone to its development. In addition, modern society is developing quite seriously in the field of fixing and expanding the rights and privileges of the poorly protected strata of society. So the positive dynamics in this aspect of the life of society is evident.
