Social Inequality, Prejudice, Discrimination-1

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Social Inequality, Prejudice and Discrimination

By Christine Preston, Nagle College, Blacktown South
A paper prented at the 1999 2 Unit HSC Student Day, Wesley Centre, Sydney

as printed in Culturescope Volume 61, 1999

Economic, social and institutionalid inequality

Social Class in Australia

Reliance on Welfare Benefits

Inequities in the Goods and Services Tax

Incidence of Youth Unemployment

Women in the Workforce

Inequality - what is it and how do we measure it? We can look at inequality in different ways.

Economic inequality is expresd through the unequal distribution of wealth in society. This has obvious ramifications in terms of the unequal distribution of what that wealth may purcha; housing, health care, education, career prospects, status - in our society, access to all the things is largely dependent on wealth.

度怎么打Social inequality is the expression of lack of access to housing, health care, eduction, employment opportunities, and status. It is the exclusion of people from full and equal participation in what we, the members of society, perceive as being valuable, important personally worthwhile and socially desirable.

依旧造句短一点Becau of the nature of our society - post industrial, competitive, capitalist, commercially driven and consumer oriented - economic inequality and social inequality are inextricably linked.

Institutionalid inequality is where unequal access is built into the very structures that support and maintain our contemporary society. In some ways it can be said that our social system needs the inbuilt inequalities in order to maintain itlf. We e evidence of this kind of inequality in our institutions - the workforce, the government, legislation (Acts of Parliament which become the law) and the legislature (the implementation and interpretation of the law). While inequality can be non-institutionalid, the focus of this paper is on institutionalid inequality.

Class is the main organising principle of modern capitalist societies, the mechanism by which power, privilege and inequality are distributed and institutionalid. The realities of 'class' in Australia have changed over time. Popular rhetoric denies the realities of class existence - writers and social commentators have repeatedly referred to Australia as "classless" and "egalitarian" when, in fact Australia is far from either of the things. Australians quite strongly identify themlves with social class, by far the largest being the middle class (60%), although, many middle class incomes are declining. The "working class" (1/4 - 1/3) is much smaller than it was 50 years ago when the majority of Australians thought of themlves as working class (the "Aussie battler"). Only a small number of people are willing to declare themlves as upper class, but if upper class is combined with upper-middle class, then about 10% e themlves this way. Increasingly in recent years, people are falling into the underclass.

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People have argued that class is a less important divider than factors such as gender, ethnicity, education, and family background, however, it can be strongly argued that all the factors, along with wealth, are the components that make up social class. They determine to large extent people's class position and are themlves heavily influenced by class - class position profoundly influences life chances and expectations.

There is a high correlation between "working class"/ underclass and a position down the bottom of the scale of income, education, job opportunities, material posssions, home ownership and control over one's life. Ethnic background is also an indicator- migrants and Aborigines are over reprented in working class/ underclass strata and under-reprented in the top strata.

Class may be about lf-identity and snobbery (Which goes both ways), but it is primarily about inequality: the unjustifiable distribution of opportunity, power and life chances. There is a mythology of equal opportunity in Australia and class mobility (for a minority of individuals). The reality is that social class limits the life chances of most Australians. Class is cyclical and therefore "keeps people in their place" (good if you're in the top strata, not so good if you're in the bottom strata). Mobility is possible, though true mobility is rare. It can be downward as well as upward - there is currently increasing deskilling and erosion of middle class jobs and salaries. The realities of class mobility in Australia are that movement occurs laterally or up and down within the clost strata, not between class. Disadvantaged groups remain disadvantaged. The extremes of class are moving further and further apart. The growth of a lf-perpetuating underclass (the poor, unemployed, chronically ill, aged pensioners, single parents - (mostly women - 85%) and Aborigines further contributes to social polarisation and powerlessness.

Superficially, class is about how you speak, where you live and how much conspicuous consumption you display. Australia, like any capitalist country, is pervaded by economic inequalities. Some people gain a considerable income from invested capital, while the majority depends on the sale of their labour (actually working for a living). Others depend on social curity for survival and are, in effect, excluded from the mainstream economy, with the result that they are excluded from life chances and life choices. Of nine OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) nations studied in 1994, only the USA had a more polarid distribution of income than Australia (that is, extremes of wealth and poverty).

Australia's rich list - the wealthiest 200 Australians - had personal wealth of $37m, an increa of $7m in a year (the are 1994 statistics - how big would the divide be by now?). Wage restraint has reduced the share of wage earners' incomes, and restructuring the workforce has knocked out many former middle-income jobs, especially in the manufacturing and mining industries. The gulf between escalating executive salaries and low paid jobs has been widening by about 4% pa.

Reliance on welfare benefits
By mid 1995, 20.1% of working age people were dependent on benefits such as the disability pension, sole parent pension, Job Search and Newstart (Centre for Population and Urban Rearch, Monash University). 31.7% of the adult population relied on government welfare payments as their primary source of income (which includes aged pensions). In 1978, the figure was 16.6%

In 1995:字

∙ 12% of the population relied on the aged pension

∙ 5.3% received the dole

∙ 3.5% received disability benefits

∙ 2.5% received sole-parent pensions

∙ 41% of children lived in families receiving family allowance payments, which go mainly to families on less than $24,000 pa.

So much for Bob Hawke's promi in 1987 that by 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty"! The people receiving the benefits are almost all confined to the lowest strata of society and who conquently experience limited opportunities. It is diff~cult to break the mindt that goes with the poverty trap whilst children are growing up in families chronically dependent an welfare.

The forces generating incread economic inequality, and thus social inequality, are strong - they are fundamental to our society's structure (eg. the changed nature of the workforce, globalisation of the market place and the incread need for economic competitiveness etc.) and can therefore be en as institutional.

Inequities in the Goods and Services Tax
Governments and their policies can influence the forces - they can retard them or exacerbate them. One example of government policy, which we can examine as an example of instructional inequality, is tax reform. Just about everybody is in agreement that the current tax system is not equitable however, there is significant debate about what form tax reform should take. I do not wish to enter into any political debate - my analysis here is simply from the perspective of the institutionalid maintenance of social inequality.

The current tax debate focus on a Goods and Services Tax (an extra charge on any product or rvice) offt by income tax cuts. Some products already have a hidden charge on them - sales tax that would be eliminated before the GST is impod. This would mean that some goods, especially luxury goods that currently attract a high sales tax, could be significantly cheaper under a GST system. An examination of statistics published in the Journal of the Australian Council of Social Services, April 1999, reveals the following:

∙ While 31% of taxpayers earn less than $20,000 pa, the tax cut for a person on $20,000 pa would be $10 pw, which is 2.6% of that income

∙ 88% of taxpayers earn less than $50,000 pa. The propod tax cut on $50,000 pa is $52pw - or 5.4% of that income

∙ 96% of taxpayers earn less than $75,000pa. The propod tax cut on $7$,000 is $86, or 6% of that income

∙ The tax cut remains at $86 pw for incomes between $75,000 and $100,000pa. Only 1% of taxpayers earn $100,000 or above. The wealthier one is (on the whole) the bigger the tax cut benefit. Yet everyone needs to purcha goods and will thus have to pay the GST.
鸡肉英语怎么读Lower income earners will obviously lo more of their tax cut becau of the GST charges than higher income earners. For example, a person on $30,000 will lo two-thirds of his/her tax cut on GST cost increas, while someone on $80,000 will lo just over one-quarter. The higher the income, the more benefits gained from this system. People on welfare pay no tax, therefore receive no tax cuts, but they still have to pay the extra GST charge on the goods and rvices they buy. A system that benefits the wealthy and further retards the poor is an example of institutional inequality. The GST proposals are currently under negotiation and the end product may prove to be more equitable.

Incidence of youth employment
Another ca study of inequality is the current state of youth employment in our society. I have chon to focus on youth employment becau it fits so well with the interrelationship between wealth, class and inequality in Australia.

The findings of a large study of youth and employment were published in April this year, and revealed a significant redistribution of wealth from the young to the middle aged. Reasons given were a decline in young people's wages relative to older workers', young people are staying in education longer than they ever have before, and they are finding it increasingly diff`cult to establish themlves in the workforce

The report, "Australia's Young Adults: The Deepening Divide" found that nearly 60% of 15-24 year olds were financially dependent on their families in the period 1994-96, an increa of 12% since 1988. The obvious implication of this is that a young person's chances of getting started in life are increasingly dependent on family background - the ability to finance their children will determine their opportunities. This is a worrying trend, which will further increa existing social divisions.

For 20-24 year olds, incomes have dropped 20% since 1976, full time employment has fallen from 90°/o of young adult jobs in 1978 to less than 75% in 1988. The proportion of part time jobs has doubled in 10 years. By aged 24, the lack of the HSC credential has incread the risk of being unemployed to 58%. Since 1984, the wages of young adult males in full time employment have fallen by 20% compared with wages of males 25-54 years old.

Young women are even more disadvantaged than young males, with the wages gap between them increasing by 18%. Further division is evident between the minority of young adults with bachelor or higher degrees or diplomas who have had substantial income increas over the last 5 years, and the majority of 20-24 year olds, including tho with skilled vocational qualifications, who have experienced static or falling incomes. Young people who have finished their education and are ready to take their place as adults, are finding themlves increasingly unable to do so, conffined to their parents' home and financial dependency and increasing frustration. Of cour, the longer they stay off the career escalator, the harder it becomes to get on.

Women in the workforce高抄
More women have moved into the workforce over the last twenty years and they have moved into a broader and more highly skilled range of occupations. Nevertheless, they are still concentrated in tho occupations traditionally dominated by women, for example, 91% of nurs and 69% of teachers were women in 1998. Despite their heavy reprentation, only 24% of managers and administrators were women.

Compared to other OECD countries, Australia has a highly gregated labour force, which has remained relatively unchanged over the last 20 years. Segregation by job type and managerial level has implications for women in terms of earnings, employment opportunity and for their access to positions of authority/decision making.

∙ In 1998, 34% of academics were women but they comprid only 13% of academies above nior lecturer level.

∙ Nationally, women make up 41% of solicitors but only 16% of principals in law firms (partners, sole practitioners)

∙ Women make up 22% of the membership of the Australian Institute of Chartered Accountants but only 3% are fellows ofthe Institute.

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∙ Lastly, women make up half of Australia's medical graduates, 30% of GPs but only 5% of general surgeons (specialists).

∙ In the top echelons of the business world, women compri 7.6% of all board members, 9.7% of non-executive directors, and 1.3% of executive directors

∙ Overall, women occupy 10% of top managerial positions, 16% of the next level down and 27% of third-tier positions.

∙ In Federal Parliament, the situation has improved significantly for women, their reprentation increasing from 14% in 1095 to 21% in 1998. However, women compri 50.2% of the Australian population and Parliament is suppod to reprent all

∙ only eight women have been named Australian of the Year in the last 39 years (excluding Judith Durham of the Seekers, the group named in 1967). This statistic reflects two things (perhaps more). There are not enough women in positions of high public profile or who are perceived as achieving things which society values, and/or the achievements of women are not valued as highly as the achievements of men. Either way (or both ways) women are still in an inferior position to men in our society-a position of social inequality.

The real issue of gender equality is not one of outcomes becau many women choo to take on the role of mother/home-maker and have every right to do so. The issue is opportunities: a woman who has the ability to enter any occupation and is prepared to undertake the requisite training should have the absolute right to do so. Her gender should not be a factor limiting her opportunities.

I cannot pursue a discussion of prejudice and discrimination here, however, many of the statistics I have provided above will provide you with uful examples to support an argument on prejudice and discrimination if such a question prents itlf in the HSC exam.

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