Chapter 2 Chapter Summary

Chapter Overview

In this chapter, we look at the various forms of social inequality and poverty that can hurt individuals and communities. Karl Marx noted that capitalistic societies create classes (groups who share common economic status). As Marx noted, classes are based on social inequality, and social inequality is created through social differentiation. While capitalistic societies do support social mobility, there are caps on this mobility. We can measure social mobility through intergenerational income elasticity, the correlation between a parent’s and child’s income. Economics are not the only important measure; human well-being should also be accounted for. The Human Development Index created by the UN uses three measures to consider the well-being of a country: life expectancy at birth, knowledge, and standard of living.

The question of social mobility inevitably leads to the question of poverty. Poverty comes in two forms: absolute poverty, people who don’t have enough of basic requirements and relative poverty, those who can survive, but are doing so at below the living standards of the rest of society. There are many ways of measuring poverty. The low-income measure or the low-income cut-off point show that Canadian seniors have the lowest poverty rate out of all OECD countries. The Gini coefficient measures income inequality where a Gini coefficient of 0 is total equality and a coefficient of 1 is total inequality. We can gauge the lower limit of the usual standard of living through the poverty line, which varies greatly depending on the country studied. Finally, we can use the market-basket measure to define poverty in absolute and non-relative terms.

The incidence of poverty in urban Canada is on the rise. The prominence of poverty varies by province, with Quebec having the highest levels. Poverty is more common among racialized minorities, and particularly prevalent among Indigenous Canadians. Associated with poverty is a lack of affordable housing. As a result, one of Canada’s most pressing social problems is homelessness. Income inequality can be combatted through government programs and taxation. For example, in a welfare state, the government provides social and economic security to its citizens. Each sociological perspective has a different view on poverty. Structural functionalism argues that poverty and social inequality are part of the basic functioning of society. Conflict theorists believe that poverty is caused through class inequality between the proletariat and the bourgeoise. Another result of such inequality is alienation in labour under capitalism. The symbolic interactionist looks at the ways that labels, such as wealth and poverty, are placed on people through interactions.