Social Inequality

.) Social inequality and stratification are universal phenomena. In what way or sense may they be engendered by or attributed to: a.Private ownership (Rousseau) - In the eighteenth century Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that private property creates social inequality and that this inequality ultimately leads to social conflict. Rousseau takes a more realistic approach to private property, and recognizes the vast inequalities that it creates between human beings, arguing that the acquisition of private property undermines human rights. Rousseau crafts a much more persuasive argument due to his recognition of these inequalities, and the assertion that humans are willing to enslave themselves to them in order to protect their property. Rousseau derives his views of human rights from the state of nature, where no human rights can be violated or impugned. Rousseau differs only slightly in his conception of human rights, asserting that humans are free and equal so far as their understanding of one another goes. While not all are born in possession of the same talents, this does not become evident to humans until a society is created and competition is born. This becomes a divisive point in the ultimate conclusion of whether owning property bolsters or undermines human rights. Rousseau believed that property could only properly be established after society, as law was necessary to establish and protect such an idea. This divergence in beliefs is what allows for the competing conclusions that each draws from the creation of private property. Property is acquired, as "it is impossible to conceive how property can come from anything but manual labor," but does not share the same views about the effects of private property or the time in history that it originates (Rousseau, 94). In Rousseau's theory, property can only be acknowledged once there is a state, with laws, to protect its establishment.
Because man was solitary in the state of nature, there was no need to claim anything as his own by mixing his labor with it, for there was nobody to contend with for the possession of an item or parcel of land. But once property was recognized, it "gave rise to the first rules of justice; for to secure each man his own, it had to be possible for each to have ". These rules allowed property to become privatized and protected as such, firmly establishing the idea of property. Primitive or early Filipinos had exhibited this same sense of ownership. When times were when ownership was still a vague notion, those nomadic people regarded everything as a source of livelihood, unmindful of any sense of trespassing offenses. It was only when later generations thought of owning these resources did they become restricted in their practices. That was when they could no longer hunt, or settle, or even cultivate lands for more permanent resource base did they began to inhabit the higher grounds such as mountains and hills where few ever thought of owning.
b. Division of labor (Marx)- Marxism is often referred to as a conflict theory. Functionalists see society as consisting of shared values. Marxists see society as being divided by conflict between the social groups, or classes who make up society. Marx believed that social change is the natural order of societies. In each form of society there are those who control property and those who work for them. In our society, which he called capitalist, and which is based on industrial production or goods, there are two basic classes of people. These are the bourgeoisie who own property, factories, wealth, technology and knowledge. Those who work for them are the proletariat and they own nothing but their own ability to work .The bourgeoisie are able to control the proletariat through two mechanisms. These are the direct control through the exercise of power and the indirect control of people's minds through the use of ideology or ideas. It is the second means of control, ideology that is the most dangerous, because people come to accept certain ideas as being true or self-evident without really questioning them. We accept that some people are rich and others poor as being part of daily life and so there are very few challenges to the idea that the greed and selfishness of the rich are acceptable and should be copied by the rest of us. Antonio Gramsci was an Italian journalist and politician who suffered enormous physical hardship before he died in prison under the rule of the Fascist dictator of Italy, Benito Mussolini in 1937. Gramsci used the term hegemony to describe a culture in which the values of the ruling class become the common sense ideas of a whole culture. People who are part of the working class accept these ideas and instead of challenging the rich, accept their right to rule and to make important decisions for the rest of us. He saw religion as being one of the most important forms of mental control because it teaches people that they should seek reward in heaven and not equality on earth. He also said that if people challenged the dominant ideas, then the state would impose physical social control on people. Inequality exists because the people are led to believe it is inevitable, but once people see through this illusion, then it exists because the state will impose its power on people.

c. Functionality: Class, Status, Power (Weber)- Weber argued that owning property, such as factories or equipment, is only part of what determines a person’s social class. Social class for Weber included power and prestige, in addition to property or wealth. People who run corporations without owning them still benefit from increased production and greater profits. Weber argued that property can bring prestige, since people tend to hold rich people in high regard. Prestige can also come from other sources, such as athletic or intellectual ability. In those instances, prestige can lead to property, if people are willing to pay for access to prestige. For Weber, wealth and prestige are intertwined. Weber believed that social class is also a result of power, which is merely the ability of an individual to get his or her way, despite opposition. Wealthy people tend to be more powerful than poor people, and power can come from an individual’s prestige.
Arnold Schwarzenegger enjoyed prestige as a bodybuilder and as an actor, and he was also enormously wealthy. When he was elected governor of California in 2004, he became powerful as well.