Social inequality: selected Readings

By:

Betelille, Andre (ed.)

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: England; Penguin Books; 1984Description: 397pISBN:

140801073

Subject(s):

Social

DDC classification:

305.5 SOC

Summary: This book offers a selection of Readings on various aspects of social inequality. It is essentially a selection of contemporary writings. All the pieces in it were published after 1950, and many of them during the last ten years. Social inequality is a broad and general problem, one which is present in all contemporary societies. In the past, societies have differed greatly in their attitudes to inequality, but in the modern world it would be hard indeed to find any society whose members are indifferent to the problem. The industrial societies of the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. alike justify their respective systems by the argument that they provide the best opportunities for real social equality. For the more 'backward' societies, the chief appeal of industrialization is the promise it holds of bringing in equality under control. As one might expect, there is a vast literature on social in equality. Under various names, the problem has occupied a central position in the discipline of sociology since its very inception. It has been treated in very different ways by different scholars. Among those who have written most perceptively on the subject, few have been altogether without some kind of moral commitment. This is certainly true of the two great nineteenth century scholars who contributed most richly to our under standing of the problem, de Tocqueville and Marx. This being so, anyone who claims to be wholly unbiased in making such a selection is bound to be suspect. It may be useful to indicate some of the considerations which have entered into the selection that is presented here. I have tried to avoid the extremes of two types of approach. The first is rooted in philosophical speculations on the moral basis of equal ity, and is a feature of certain European approaches to the prob lem of class and social inequality. It tends to be expressed in a highly polemical style which makes it difficult to separate socio logical questions and issues from philosophical ones. At the other extreme are a number of recent American

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Books	Gandhi Smriti Library	305.5 SOC (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		30158

Total holds: 0

This book offers a selection of Readings on various aspects of social inequality. It is essentially a selection of contemporary writings. All the pieces in it were published after 1950, and many of them during the last ten years.

Social inequality is a broad and general problem, one which is present in all contemporary societies. In the past, societies have differed greatly in their attitudes to inequality, but in the modern world it would be hard indeed to find any society whose members are indifferent to the problem. The industrial societies of the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. alike justify their respective systems by the argument that they provide the best opportunities for real social equality. For the more 'backward' societies, the chief appeal of industrialization is the promise it holds of bringing in equality under control.

As one might expect, there is a vast literature on social in equality. Under various names, the problem has occupied a central position in the discipline of sociology since its very inception. It has been treated in very different ways by different scholars. Among those who have written most perceptively on the subject, few have been altogether without some kind of moral commitment. This is certainly true of the two great nineteenth century scholars who contributed most richly to our under standing of the problem, de Tocqueville and Marx. This being so, anyone who claims to be wholly unbiased in making such a selection is bound to be suspect.

It may be useful to indicate some of the considerations which have entered into the selection that is presented here. I have tried to avoid the extremes of two types of approach. The first is rooted in philosophical speculations on the moral basis of equal ity, and is a feature of certain European approaches to the prob lem of class and social inequality. It tends to be expressed in a highly polemical style which makes it difficult to separate socio logical questions and issues from philosophical ones. At the other extreme are a number of recent American

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