Social inequality in Australia Essay Example

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Part one: Economic equality

Introduction

The Australian education society has had some difficulties in trying to unify the students in their respective institutions. This was brought about by the economic diversity in the community which included the wealth gap as well as the income differences. Therefore, the Australian government started to strategies on the plans applicable so as to unify the economic class of all the students in the primary and secondary level of education who are studying in the public schools. It is done by giving cultural as well as social capital to the learning institutions. Due to the diversity that exists among the students as a result of the broad financial stability, the capital is of help to the nations’ economic equalization of facilities offered to the students. (Checchi, 2006, 199).The money is meant to cater for the funds required to be paid by the students for the cultural as well as all co-curricular activities.

The essay is expounding in details the Bourdieu’s theory with which he explains the various ways of overcoming the economic inequalities among the society with the context of Australia. For him to opt to come up with the theory, he had been profoundly influenced by Marx’s theory which was a sociologist. He distributed the cultural capital to lie under several forms. The forms are that the cultural capital theory can either be objectified, embodied or even institutionalized as Bourdieu himself reviewed in his journal that was published in 2011, pp. 86.

The standardized form of state was found to be an objectification form that ought to be set apart due to its conformation of the main properties that are in the cultural as well as the cultural capitals that are presumed to the guarantee. (Barret, 2010, pp. 119).The embodied form of state was found to The Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital has been of great impact in the laying of the foundation of the social life as well as providing a dictation to the social order’ positions occupied by individuals. The industrialized societies’ system of education has been functioning for the legitimation of the economic inequalities that are evident in different classes of students. The social capital section of the essay explains it as a form of capital and capital economic whereby the center of everything is the social network. The aim of social capital was to develop the performances of the diversified groups as well as the improvement of the firms that are entrepreneurial and the communities’ evolution.

Cultural and social capital as is in Pierre’s theory

According to Pierre, the word capital was predefined to be the total amount of money or assets that were kept aside for use in productivity. The assets could be classified in various forms in his theory, and he developed three principals that helped him to discuss his approach in details. The principles included the cultural, economic as well as the social species of the theory. (Barro, 2013, pp. 189).In this case, the theories are to help in the clarification of cultural and social capital principles as applied to the Australian primary as well as the secondary public education system to curb the inequalities thereby on the economic sector of the huge populations in the nation.

On cultural capital, Pierre referred to assets like the qualifications, skills, as well as one’s competence among others which were necessary for enabling the personnel’s holding the property do mobilization of the authority in the field of culture as well as outsource symbolic and the misrecognition of violence in the society. In the context of sociology, the cultural capital is viewed as the intellect as well as the education that one has among other qualifications that help him in the promotion of the stratified society’s mobility.

Many students who come from high-working-class families tend not to concentrate in their educations despite their accessibility to all facilities required in the learning institutions for both the departmental political field of study as well as the cultural bit of the area of research as also documented by Bourdieu in 2011, pp. 92. Their educational success is recognized by them at their middle-class where they view their peers’ success in education as a legitimate activity. As a result, some of the students from the low-class families record high grades in their educational success.

From the school system department in Australia and the provision of capital for the equalization of the diversified groups of students, a significant impact is posted on the students differently basing on their economic backgrounds. (Fletcher, 2013, pp. 35).Several students from working-class families utilize the funds and assets provided for their success academically with others assuming the grants thus recording poor performance in their education. It is as a result of their active approach to their background thus ensuring the strive to achieve a better life than the currently are having. It, therefore, becomes a motivating factor the education system board to continue with their project on equalizing the commercial segment among the nation’s students.

On the social capital, the transactions involved are identified through the cooperation, trust, reciprocity as well as the agents in the public learning institutions purposing for the common good and not for individual benefit. The economic funds are given to the learning organization with an accounting of the exact fee required for the involvements. The initiative has been of significant impact in the reduction of the wealth class gaps that are common thus bringing unity among the different financial races. The records are documented by Barret in the year 2010, pp. 134.

Conclusion

The social and cultural capital is diversified in the society in the basis of their industrial capability. Therefore, for the success of the primary and secondary learning institutions, equalization of the facilities as well as the capital available for the pupils is necessary. Pierre has defined and expounded on the cultural as well as the social capital and how they are of great impact in the society. He has further explained on the respective measures to be taken as a way of providing economic equality across all ethics as well as wealth groups in the nation.

Besides, the betterment of the learning environment as well as equalizing the facilities that are assessable by the diversified students is their core objective. The goal has been reached through the provision of money to cater for the servicing of the cultural activities necessary in the school curriculum as well as the social segment in learning. As a result, the performance of the students from small financial stabilized families recorded showed a vast improvement. Therefore the initiative by the public system has been supported by various people as was also reviewed by Barro in the year 2013, pp. 195.

Reference

Barrett, G.F., Crossley, T.F. and Worswick, C., 2010. Consumption and income inequality in Australia. Economic Record, 76(233), pp.116-138.

Barro, R.J. and Lee, J.W., 2013. A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010. Journal of development economics, 104, pp.184-198.

Bourdieu, P., 2011. The forms of capital.(2006). Cultural theory: An anthology, pp.81-93.

Checchi, D., 2006. The economics of education: Human capital, family background and inequality. Cambridge University Press, pp. 197-215

Fletcher, M. and Guttmann, B., 2013. Income inequality in Australia. Economic Round-up, (2), pp.35-41

Part two:

Introduction

Social inequality is a situation whereby an individual or even a particular type of a group faces unfair treatment or prejudgment based on their socially motivated beliefs, their social class, skin color which may further lead to racism or whiteness, religion, gender or even age. This menace is quite rampant and will always endeavor to divide people along political lines which catapult enmity and suspicion among the residents and inhabitants of such a particular area leading to an abandonment of social and public right by the certain class of people.

Some of the common goods and services which are at the center of this discussion are access to healthcare, access to education, access to representation and social participation in community-based development projects. There are various types of social inequality which include gender inequality, labor inequality, political inequality, Economic inequality and many others. These have further been advanced by the following dimensions: whiteness, geographical and patriotism.

Geographical kind of social inequality takes root when some people are denied access to some areas simply because of their naturalism and originality. This is very common when the blacks are subjected to a lot of mistreatment especially in the VISA application process when they are pursuing education or even job vacancies in these ‘white’ countries. I strongly condemn this kind of disrespect with the strongest words possible. (Habibis, 2009, pp. 356).

On the part of patriotism, some inhabitants want to go beyond the natural law by telling how others are more patriotic as compared to others. This is immeasurably ill-advised and will only lead to more divisions and severe cracks in the democratic space of our country. However, in the spirit of national cohesion and reconciliation, our constitutional mandate should always be geared towards achieving a complete overhaul of the vice in the dispensation of our services purposed in getting everyone adorned in nation building without fashioning others as lesser patriots.(Sandell, 2003, pp. 166).

Whiteness will be my focal point of my discussion as I attempt to unfold the whole mask of social inequality in both of our private and social/public sectors of our economy in Australia.

How Whiteness has led to Social Inequality in various sectors in Australia

Whiteness refers to the hatred purported and championed by a certain social group of people towards the rest of a different skin color in a particular area of jurisdiction. It becomes so ridiculous when we discriminate the non-partisans simply because of their complexion. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there was an increased common type of discrimination which was targeting the blacks and especially the Africans, and it was known as slavery.

Although it entirely maneuvered in even other economies, slavery was so intense on the part of the victims since it showed how inferior or even how less human they were on the face of the whites. However, whiteness in our country has become very rampant as compared to those other times. In the recent past, Australia has been on the receiving end of this social disease where the blacks have faced challenges in their effort to access social amenities and services. (Marmot, 2005, pp. 346).

This has been widely witnessed in our country Australia especially in our sector economy in search for jobs. You will almost realize that when the blacks are looking for jobs within our country, they are faced with rigorous and very cumbersome processes which don’t add up anywhere in their service delivery. Although the authorities have promised of a free discrimination process in the pursuit to eliminate this menace, our recruiting personnel have been urged to focus in neutralizing the situation which seems to erode our morality at the workplaces in our public sectors.

This can be confirmed mainly basing my argument on a case study of Hungry Restaurant where a study was conducted by an English student of Economics from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom where he found that out of the three hundred and forty-five (345) workers there only twenty-three (23) are blacks, and they have been given the hard and more painful areas of operation. (Sandell, 2003, pp. 177).

Another case study of the same inequality was done in Early May when an American scholar called Bill Adams wanted to know the distribution of workers in an export company called Vegpro (A) International Company (VIC) situated in the country and working with the Australian Airways. It became very apparent that company which absorbs as many workers as ten thousand and two hundred and fifty (10,250) did not consider the ethics and ethos of professionalism when it comes to recruiting. This was evident especially when the researcher found that only five hundred and thirty-three (533) of the workers were blacks.

Furthermore, these employees were not covered by premium insurance, and also their wages were wanting as compared to the large packages which the whites took home. (Van Zanten, 2005, pp.157). In addition to that, the blacks worked under very intense conditions where the pack houses were scalding during the day and frigid, chilly and freezing during the night. The raised concerns were addressed with the Department of Labor which promised to place litigation against the management of the company and ensure that equality and equity had been achieved not only at Vegpro Exporting Company but also across the board in all the small and medium enterprises.

Another area of concern where whiteness has led to social inequality is in the search for a better healthcare within Australia. Here you realize that there have been private health centers that don’t completely accommodate or even treat the blacks. (Siegrist, 2006, pp. 512) This has led to many unnecessary deaths and especially child mortality has been on the rise in the states occupied by the blacks. Moral decay will lack any better meaning if we are not conversant with the denial of healthcare. Likewise in the government sponsored hospitals, you will realize that there are two different wings where the whites and the blacks are treated separately.

A case study by a medic student who sought anonymity gives fresh breath on the extent of the problem than how we earlier could have thought.(VanZanten, 2015, pp. 160). When she paid a courtesy visit to a local private clinic at the suburbs of the Melborone City, shocking details revealed that the security checks at the gate don’t at all allow the blacks to access the firm. It has become more overwhelming when an old black woman who has diabetes was turned away only to succumb to the condition a few minutes later.

When the researcher tried to raise the issue with the management, she was threatened and immediately vacated. The following day she managed to seek an audience with the Department of Public Health and Sanitation where the authorities confirmed of similar reports raised previously about the same health center. However, they talked to a Bill being passed in the Congress to close down all clinics which advanced whiteness to crop and also get subjected to license withdrawal. When again she went to a General Hospital at the center of the CBD the issue of a private wing for the whites came in the limelight. This became evident when a pregnant woman of African origin was thrown in a room deficient of medics and enough circulation. It has become very psychologically castigating and caused a lot of trauma to the victims who end up cursing the character of the physicians in the General Hospital. (Marmot, 2009, pp.356)

The education sector is not an exception all together as many schools have been rooted in severe discrimination which is becoming in controllably hurting. When a Japanese researcher collected information on the viability of the issue, it became apparent that the State had opened schools purely for the inhabitants as well as other Westerners, unlike the Blacks who were left alone to access this basic necessity from few schools which had been started by the Missionaries. (Sandell, 2003, pp.127). Furthermore, these schools had been poorly funded by the state since donors had received threats from authorities to vacate the system. In a more shocking revelation, it has become notably worthy documenting that these white schools have been flooded with the state of the Art facilities with the provision of transport.

Conclusion

The authorities should stamp out the deadly issue of social inequality which has been motivated by the lack of proper address on Whiteness by the state. I, therefore, want to urge all and sundry that whenever we see every person as our brother and sister, then the issue of discrimination will be buried once and for all. Let’s stand for a better democracy.

References

Habibis, D. and Walter, M.M., 2009. Social Inequality in Australia, pp. 331-376.

Marmot, M., 2005. Social determinants of health inequalities. The Lancet, 365(9464), pp.1099-1104.

Sandell, R. ed., 2003. Museums, society, inequality. Routledge, pp. 125-197.

Siegrist, J. and Marmot, M., 2006. Social inequalities in health: new evidence and policy implications, pp. 456-523.

Van Zanten, A., 2005. New modes of reproducing social inequality in education: the changing role of parents, teachers, schools and educational policies. European Educational Research Journal, 4(3), pp.155-169.