What is inequality?

What is inequality?

Inequality describes both measurable allocations of resources and concrete human experiences of marginalisation, oppression and disrespect. “Inequality is said to exist when there is a difference in the distribution of a resource (such as income) or outcome (such as mortality or educational achievement) across groups of people or places (for example, by socioeconomic group or by gender).(1)”

In the field of economics, inequality is primarily approached from a monetary perspective. Socioeconomic approaches present a broader understanding of inequality.

Göran Therborn (2013) offers a helpful distinction between three forms of inequality: resource inequality, (e.g. monetary inequalities, carbon inequality) vital inequalities (e.g. inequalities in health status, life expectancy) and existential equality (based on equality of opportunity and participation in a comprehensive sense, i.e. the absence of discrimination, stigmatisation and oppression such as racism, sexism, casteism or slavery).

Inequality describes a social phenomenon, not a natural characteristic. As socioeconomic analysis points out, inequalities are created and driven by social institutions (2) and caused by power relations.