Introduction
Structural inequality can be defined as the inequality in societies based on the societies structures. Societies are based on structures for instance they can be organized according to their social structures and powers. One of the indicators of structural inequality is the Gini index or Gini square. Most people argue that structural inequality is transgenerational in the sense that it’s related to factors like occupational status, come inequality, and inequality of job satisfaction.
According to how the societies are structured, you find that inequality is actually based on those structures. for instance, in western societies, income inequality actually proved to be less family determined and less congruent with other dimensions of social stratification. in most of the developing countries, you find that there is high-income inequality in the sense that you find that most of the rich and the most powerful tend to benefit from the country’s resources at the expense of the ordinary poor. Also, most of the societies have structures based on social classes, cultures among others and it’s due to these structures then inequality tends to rise.
Inequality has many dimensions ranging from culture, violence, race, money, recourses among others. For instance, in the case of culture, it is actually structured on the basis of racism and inequality. Culture can be defined as a totality of values, attitudes, believes, norms, relations among others but you find that today, culture has actually negated all these definitions due to the rising inequality today. In this culture in which we live, it has actually been perpetrated by many ideologies ranging from classism, racism, and sexism.
In how our societies are structured, colonization gets its legitimacy with the different societies ranging from the most dominant and the subjugated.it is due to this then that you find that many societies have different power and privileges. the issue of inequality in this case then appears as a result of how people access these powers and privileges and how the various resources are distributed. You find that there is a lot of inequality in how these resources are distributed since most of the powerful tend to get the highest share from these resources leaving the common man to suffer. (Brown, 2001).
Impact of structured inequality
Structured inequality in most societies had many impacts. Some of these impacts included things like poor distribution of recourses in the sense that in most of these societies, it was only the most powerful in the society who could actually benefit from these resources. They tended to get the lion’s share at the expense of the poor. This inequality has also resulted in increased crimes since due to the poor allocation of resources; the poor could result in crimes like stealing in order to be in a position to sustain them. There were also conflicts in the distribution of these resources leading to crimes. (Brown, 2001).
Crime/conflict
It has been found that the increasing levels of income inequality are a structural condition whereby it increases the threat of the highly privileged people in the society and hence it’s through this that they are in a position to influence the government in terms of social control and hence as a result, then you find that the justice system is not properly used. For instance the political conflicts. You find that in most cases, most of the political elites are exempted from the law when a politician is involved in a conflict; you find that most of them are not prosecuted just because of their powers, and as a result, the justice system is actually misused.
There is also a lot of corruption in these judging systems since most of the criminals are set free out of corruption. In most cases, you find that it’s only the common man who actually suffers since there is no one to stand by him. (Cousens and Chetan 2001).
Lawmakers and Judges
Lawmakers are those people who are actually concerned with the drafting of laws while the judges are those people who are concerned with judging on crimes done as per those laws. You find that if the laws are not well-drafted, inequalities tend to rise since you find that most of the laws were set in order to favor some people in our societies. If this happens, then you find that the role of the judicial system has been misused since it’s not actually according to the law.
In most countries, you find that laws are set according to the structures of that society. For instance, according to the culture of the traditional societies, laws were set depending on various things. One’s social status, personal background, power among others, and people were supposed to abide by those laws. Most of the high power in the society and those with high social status were exempted from those laws. (Cousens and Chetan 2001).
Percentage of Caucasian vs. African American
In most of the African countries, you find that the percentage of structural inequality is usually high unlike for the other countries. This is because African countries are developing countries unlike the Western countries which have actually developed and hence as a result, you find that the rate of structural inequality is usually low for instance in the case of job satisfaction, income distribution among others.
Control/ Diversity for prevention
One of the major control measures out of research conducted on whether structural inequality can have an influence on the crime control measures includes, the introduction of legal coercive sanctions. There is actually a need to ensure that there are legal coercions taken on these criminals in order to ensure that the criminal justice system has been applied correctly. There is a need for an increase in the rates of arrest and more cells need to be constructed for the criminals in order to ensure that the rate has slowed down. There is also a need for maximum allocation of resources. You find that in most cases, inequalities arise as a result of poor income distribution hence leading to these crimes. If resources are correctly distributed, then you find that the rate of criminals can as well go down.
There is also the need to modernize the court system. It can be achieved by certain measures like providing service-oriented behaviors, effective and innovative measures in order to be in a position to improve on the judicial system. Need to bring the judicial system into harmony with the new reality of the public sector. (Cohen, 1997).
Conclusion
Structural inequality has recently grown in most of the countries and needs to be addressed since it has actually resulted in many crimes and conflicts in most of the countries. Also, the judicial system needs to be revised and modernized in order to be in a position to function well.
Reference
Brown, L (2001).Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth. New York and London: W.W. Norton.
Cohen, R (1997). Negotiating Cross Cultures. International Communication in an Independent World. Washington D.C. U.S. Institute of Peace Press.
Cousens, E and Chetan K (2001). Peace building as politics. Cultivating peace in Fragile Societies.Boulder.Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers.