3.0 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascriptive inequality | 2/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascriptive_inequality | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:46:46.666452+00:00 | kb-cron |
== How does ascriptive inequality happen? == Ascriptive inequality is acted out through mechanisms. Mechanisms are an account of what brings about change in some variable. The four types of mechanisms responsible for ascriptive inequality are intrapsychic, interpersonal, societal, and organizational. Intrapsychic mechanisms uses psychological theories such as social cognition and self-fulfilling to generate ascriptive inequality because these theories use the stereotypes of minorities to justify that they deserve unequal compensation. Interpersonal mechanisms use the interactions between members of different ascriptive groups to determine the result. Often, the minority groups gets worse treatment as the majority member may be more rude to the minority member in an interview for example. Social mechanisms are social measures that link ascriptive group membership to opportunities and rewards. Because people associate certain stereotypes with members of an ascriptive group, such as race, in groups and out groups are formed. Members of a minority group, or out group, are particularly visible to a majority group, and because society has already shaped the majority's perception and distorted it, it leads them to behave in ways that disadvantage minority group members. For example, Title 7 and its amendments bar employment discrimination based on race, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, age, and disability and it therefore indirectly affects ascriptive inequality because it impacts what employers do. Lastly, organizational mechanisms can cause various levels of ascriptive inequality by requiring, permitting, or preventing differential treatment through organizational practices such as dress codes.
== Conclusion == Although ascriptive inequality may not be obvious at first, a closer examination of our society will reveal that inequalities are all around us. Every day women go to work and on average earn 40 cents less than men because of their sex. [NOTE: This statistic (as well as the more often quoted 22%) is nonsense, as anyone familiar with female wage disparities knows.] Working-class students may be denied the chance to go to college because they grew up in a school system that did not have the resources to adequately prepare them. An African American man may not be able to buy a house in a white neighborhood because a realtor is afraid his family will make the property value go down. These inequalities are more common than they should be and are based on factors that people have been dealing with from birth and may not be able to change. New laws and government regulations have helped combat some of these issues but our society is nowhere as equal as it could be.
== See also == Social stratification Equal pay for women Social Mobility
== References ==