Social Inequality
Social Inequality in the United States: Where Do Stereotypes Begin? Social inequality reflects the belief that deviance is not merely deviant personal behavior, but also, behavior that is committed against other individuals of society. Social inequality involves the belief that some individuals are socially defined as disadvantaged due to their life circumstances. Social inequality can be applied to a number of life circumstances, such as poverty, race, gender, health, and many other phenomena. Status and stereotypes are central to the discussion of social inequality. There are two types of status, achieved and ascribed (Salinger, 2000). Status that is earned, such as a college graduate, is labeled achieved status. Status in which an individual is born with is called ascribed status. Gender and race are two examples of ascribed status. Stereotypes are standardized mental pictures that are held in common by members of a group (Salinger, 2000). They often represent oversimplified opinions, prejudiced attitudes, and derogatory judgments about people in a society. Stereotypes do not require accuracy in order to exist. Social inequality is dependent on the meanings that people attach to status and stereotypes, which can lead to v
When combined, the institutional and symbolic dimensions of oppression create a structural backdrop against which every person lives. One factor overlooked in regards to affirmative action is that the types of discrimination policies are intended to cure a problem that is very broad, and the varieties of discrimination are too heterogeneous (Helms, 1995) to be resolved by a single approach. In 1989, Sandra Harding proposed that gender oppression was structured along three main dimensions, the institutional dimension, the symbolic dimension, and the individual dimension. Maharin Banaji, a psychology professor at Yale University, said "because people's minds are more accustomed to making stereotypical associations, they process them more rapidly" (Paul, 1998). An experiment (Dasgupta & Greenwald, 2001) was conducted to show whether exposure to pictures of admired and disliked individuals can reduce instant preference for White over Black Americans. Moreover, the devalued status of enslaved African women was important in keeping all White women in their assigned places. This is the context in which choices are made. Through practice, they say people can weaken the mental links that connect minorities to negative stereotypes and strengthen the ones that connect them to positive conscious beliefs (Paul, 1998). Manuscript submitted for publication. Poor White women enjoyed few of the protections that enslaved African women received.
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