Inequality Shape Research Articles

Durable Inequalities in Exploitative Labor Situations in the Global South

Over the past decade, research on social inequalities has surged, highlighting the persistence and widening of inequality worldwide. This body of work has increasingly adopted an interdisciplinary approach and has extended its scope beyond the nation-state and to include various dimensions beyond income and wealth. This special issue examines social inequality through the lens of labor exploitation and labor migration, with a particular focus on contexts in the Global South. It addresses the paradox of why attempts aimed at increasing equality have often contributed to generating more durable inequalities. In this introduction, we propose an integrated theoretical framework for studying social inequality and labor exploitation. Alongside our focus on durable inequalities, we emphasize the importance of epistemic inequality as a fundamental driver of both historical and contemporary inequalities. We argue that the ability to define the terms and parameters of (in)equality—and, more broadly, to access and produce knowledge—is a critical resource in shaping inequality. Several papers in this special issue, which will be introduced here, reflect this argument.

Discussion of “Shaping Inequality and Intergenerational Persistence of Poverty: Free college or better schools”

Discussion of “Shaping Inequality and Intergenerational Persistence of Poverty: Free college or better schools”

The Context of Poverty and Cancer: Denying Human Potential.

Poverty is a carcinogen and a leading cause of cancer disparities and overall mortality in the United States. Poverty is often viewed as an individual failure for "being poor," but in fact, poverty is structurally driven, intergenerational, and place-based that socially deprives and denies human potential. Disparities in timely cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and survival disproportionally impact people living in poverty and especially in persistent poverty areas, an extreme form of place-based poverty that affects communities over multiple generations. There has been some progress made to address place-based conditions that exacerbate poverty, such as the NCI's initiative on persistent poverty. However, gross inequality and cancer disparities continue to exist and persist. The time is now to accelerate the development of research-informed strategies and solutions with communities along with multisectoral collaborations with education, housing, occupation/workforce, foster care, criminal justice, transportation, and data collection systems. This commentary discusses the structural, place-based, and generational context of poverty, illustrates how entrenched inequities shape poor cancer outcomes, and describes opportunities for future research.

Social inequality and news media repertoires in seven MENA countries

Social inequality shapes peoples’ chances and strategies to keep informed about current affairs. We study citizens’ news media repertoires – individual patterns of combining selected news media – in a world region of extreme social inequality within and between countries: the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA). We report a secondary analysis of a large-scale survey in seven MENA countries to develop news user typologies. We explore how digital forces shape news media repertoires to determine the influence of social inequality on the population’s information routines regarding current affairs, and investigate the diversity of the inhabitants’ media repertoires.

Categorical and resource inequalities in self-reliant internet use and use-by-proxy among older adults in Slovenia during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic had a considerable impact on how older adults engaged online, with many using the internet for the first time or relying on family, friends, and peers to perform an activity online on their behalf, a form of internet use known as use-by-proxy. Since we lack large-scale research that compares what factors influence self-reliant internet use and use-by-proxy in older adults during the pandemic, this study seeks to fill this gap. Drawing on resources and appropriation theory, we examine how categorical (e.g., age, gender, education) and resource inequalities (e.g., social, material) shape internet use among older adults as well as the availability and activation of use-by-proxy among older internet non-users. We conducted three binary logistic regression models to analyze survey data collected in 2021 during the fourth wave of pandemic public health measures in Slovenia from a sample of 701 older adults aged 65+. The results show that personal and positional categorical disparities among older adults were significantly associated with their internet use during the pandemic, whereas bridging social capital was the only social resource positively associated with internet use. Conversely, categorical inequalities played a less important role in the availability of use-by-proxy than social resources. In fact, apart from occupation, bonding and bridging social capital were the only positive correlates of availability of proxy users among older internet non-users. Surprisingly, neither type of social capital was linked with the activation of use-by-proxy, which was only associated with two positional categorical disparities: marital status and residential area. Our findings suggest that addressing age-related digital inequalities after the pandemic requires a diversified approach that considers the heterogeneity of categorical and resource inequalities shaping older adults' self-reliant internet use and use-by-proxy.

Lower Socioeconomic Status Predicts Increased Proinflammatory Signaling in Late Pregnancy: Evidence From a Filipino Cohort.

Maternal socioeconomic status (SES) is an important predictor of adverse birth outcomes and postnatal health across global populations. Chronic inflammation is implicated in cardiometabolic disease risk in high-income contexts and is a potential pathway linking maternal adversity to offspring health trajectories. To clarify how socioeconomic inequality shapes pregnancy inflammation in middle-income settings, we investigated SES as a predictor of inflammatory cytokines in late gestation in a sample from the Cebu Longitudinal Health Nutrition Survey in Cebu, Philippines. We used multiple regression to evaluate maternal SES, reflected in household assets, as a predictor of general inflammation (C-reactive protein), inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-6, interleukin-10), and inflammatory balance (n = 407). Inflammatory markers were measured at 29.9 weeks gestation in dried blood spots, and a measure reflecting relative balance of IL6 and IL10 was calculated to capture pro- versus anti-inflammatory skewed immune profiles. Greater household assets significantly predicted lower IL6 concentration (p < 0.001), with a trend toward lower IL6 relative to IL10 (p = 0.084). C-reactive protein and IL10 were not individually related to SES. The inverse relationship between SES and pregnancy inflammation in Cebu is consistent with results from high-income settings. These findings further highlight the influence of socioeconomic conditions on immune regulation during pregnancy. Given the evidence that gestational inflammation impacts offspring fetal growth, our results suggest that social and economic effects on immune function may be an important pathway for the intergenerational transmission of health disparities.

Trust and needles: how perceptions of inequality shape vaccination in South Korea

This study investigates the influence of perceived inequality on vaccination behaviors within the social context of South Korea. It explores how perceptions of inequality affect trust in science and society, subsequently impacting vaccination behaviors. The first analysis utilizes path analysis to identify both direct and indirect effects of perceived inequality on COVID-19 vaccine-related attitudes, mediated by trust in science and society. This provides foundational insights into these relationships at the individual level. The second analysis expands the scope to district-level data, analyzing influenza vaccination records from 2015 to 2021 to validate and enhance the initial findings. These results suggest that the public uses perceptions of inequality and regional economic disparity as heuristics in vaccination decisions. This study contributes to academic discourse by elucidating factors influencing vaccination behavior. It highlights the critical role of subjective sense of inequality in shaping public health policy, especially in response to emerging infectious diseases and future pandemics.

Social inequalities shape climate change adaptation among Indian farmers

Abstract Agricultural technologies are vital for farmers adapting to climate change. However, while efforts have focused on improving access and initial adoption, little attention has been given to social disparities in rates of adoption and the benefits derived from these technologies. Our study investigates the adoption of groundwater irrigation technology in India, a transformative innovation that has historically enhanced productivity and food security, and helped agricultural households adapt to a changing climate. We use a nationwide household survey sample that spans nearly a decade, capturing a key period of groundwater expansion in India. Our analysis reveals that members of highly marginalized social groups are less likely to adopt groundwater irrigation technologies, and less likely to sustain their use of the technologies for long periods of time. Furthermore, the household-level benefits of the technologies–operationalized through the relationship between technology adoption and income–appear lower for households belonging to historically marginalized groups compared to the historically advantaged. Our study underscores the importance of addressing social inequalities in both adoption as well as the sustained utilization of agricultural technologies and other climate adaptation tools. Disparities in the utilization of these technologies can hinder farmers’ ability to access new innovations and adapt to increasing threats from climate change. Targeted policies and interventions are essential to not only provide historically marginalized groups access to technological innovations, but also facilitate their effective utilization.

Cautious Optimism: Latinx Young Adults’ Perspectives on the American Dream

The American Dream has long been crucial in maintaining the narrative of meritocracy that is part of American ideology and in giving immigrants hope for a brighter future in the United States. This article examines perceptions of the American Dream among U.S.-born Latinx young adults in Arizona. Drawing from 57 in-depth interviews, we found that participants approach the American Dream with cautious optimism—they believe in the American Dream, but are aware of its limits and redefine it to make it attainable. Latinas, in particular, link the American Dream with self-determination and defiance to traditional gender and cultural expectations. This research offers insights into the evolving meaning of the American Dream, revealing how race and gender inequality shape Latinx young adults’ aspirations amid contemporary challenges in Arizona.

Race, Inequality, and Political Trust in Latin America

Abstract During the last decades, political distrust has seemingly become a common trend across Latin American democracies, however, differences in the levels of confidence among groups have also been identified. This article considers the potential effects of ethno-racial structures and their interactions with other forms of socioeconomic inequalities on political trust. Building on data from four waves of the Latinobarometer project and contextual measures from different sources, we analyze these relations and find that both socioeconomic and ethno-racial inequalities affect political trust and impact on the formation of different relations with the political system across Latin America. Furthermore, in particular it is found that at the individual-level interactions between inequalities shape political trust differently depending on the particular ethno-racial identification. These findings contribute to the understanding of ethnicity and race and its associations with other structural inequalities in shaping mass political culture.

Static output feedback LFC for semi‐Markov type interconnected multi‐area power systems: A non‐fragile PI strategy

AbstractThis article addresses the static output feedback load frequency control (LFC) problem for semi‐Markov type interconnected multi‐area power systems (IMAPSs) through non‐fragile proportional‐integral (PI) strategy. Primarily, by roundly exploiting the dynamical properties and considering random mutations of the IMAPSs, the semi‐Markov jump process (MJP) is elaborately scheduled for establishing the dynamical model with precision. Subsequently, on account of the characteristic of geographical isolation, a memory‐like sampled‐data LFC mechanism considering time‐varying transmission delay for the semi‐Markov jump IMPASs is formulated accordingly. Additionally, the non‐fragile issue is explored for the PI controller gain fluctuations to meet the actual operation scenario. After that, a mode‐dependent two‐side polynomial‐type looped Lyapunov functional is constructed for enhancing flexibility. Then, in virtue of the stochastic analysis technique, some relaxed conditions guaranteeing stochastic stability with prescribed performance are thereby derived in the shape of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Ultimately, a numerical example is carried out to validate the efficacy of the developed control methodology.

How does information about inequality shape voting intentions and preferences for redistribution? Evidence from a randomized survey experiment in Indonesia

We test the elasticity of people's voting intentions and preferences for redistribution to information about inequality through a large-scale, randomised survey experiment in Indonesia. Respondents received information about either (1) the level of national inequality, (2) the level of national inequality in combination with the degree of intergenerational mobility, (3) their position in the national income distribution, or no information. The first two treatments raised people's concern about inequality and mobility. The first treatment also increased the likelihood they would vote against the President. The third treatment lowered richer respondents’ support for redistribution. These findings provide new insights about the challenges of increasing public support for government-led redistribution, such as tax increases and greater spending on social protection, in middle-income country settings.

The gender dynamics along the human–machine interface

By deconstructing the human–machine interface across China's economic history, this commentary on Luger and Schwarze's paper highlights the critical need to explore gender dynamics in post-industrial cities through the human–machine interface. We suggest two new concepts, subjectivity and deep interface, which may offer a way forward for us to move deeper into post-industrial cities for a more intricate understanding of the enduring inequalities shaping these urban landscapes.

Inequalities in patients’ experiences with cancer care: the role of economic and health literacy determinants

BackgroundPatients with fewer socioeconomic and health literacy resources are disadvantaged in their access and use of healthcare, which may give rise to worse experiences with care and thus inequalities in patient experiences. However, only a limited number of studies have examined how socioeconomic and health literacy factors shape inequalities in patients’ experiences with cancer care.ObjectiveTo examine whether patients’ experiences with cancer care differ according to their economic status and health literacy.MethodsSecondary analysis of data on 2789 adult patients diagnosed with cancer from the Swiss Cancer Patient Experiences-2 (SCAPE-2) study, a cross-sectional survey conducted in eight hospitals across Switzerland from September 2021 to February 2022. Regression analysis was applied to examine the independent effect of patients’ economic status and health literacy on various outcomes of experiences with cancer care, covering eight different dimensions of patient-centred care, controlling for confounding factors.ResultsAdjusted regression analysis showed that patients with lower economic status reported significantly worse experiences with cancer care in 12 out of 29 specific care experiences, especially in the dimensions of ‘respect for patients’ preferences’ and ‘physical comfort’ where all items of experiences were associated with economic status. Additionally, lower health literacy was associated with worse patient experiences in 23 specific care experiences. All items in the dimensions of ‘respect for patients’ preferences’, ‘physical comfort’ and ‘emotional support’ were associated with health literacy.DiscussionThis study revealed significant inequalities in experiences with cancer care shaped by the economic status and health literacy of patients across different dimensions of patient-centred care. It is essential to address the needs of more disadvantaged patients who face obstacles in their access and use of the healthcare system, not only to mitigate inequalities in cancer care but also to avoid inequalities in health outcomes.

Operationalising intersectionality in equality and domestic abuse policy in Scotland: Contradictions, contestations and erasure

This article synthesises the findings from two studies on the operationalisation of intersectionality in Scotland: one in equality policy and NGOs, and the other in domestic abuse policy-making. Drawing upon Ashlee Christoffersen's framework of applied concepts of intersectionality, this article analyses the competing and contradictory ways that intersectionality is institutionalised in Scottish policy and practice. It highlights the contestations and debates that arise when actors with varying understandings, agendas, and levels of political will attempt to apply intersectionality. We argue that dominant approaches to applying intersectionality in Scottish equality and domestic abuse policymaking are additive and superficial, a consequence of power inequalities shaping who has access to policymaking processes and institutions. Beyond the Scottish case, the article highlights key lessons concerning how to operationalise intersectionality in policy and practice in ways that are truer to its original conceptualisation in Black feminism.

Moving Forward to a World Free of Nuclear Weapons (?): How Regional Issues Shape Global Non-proliferation and Disarmament Politics

This special issue contributes to the global dialogue on a nuclear weapons ban by evaluating how regional politics enable or hinder a global ban on nuclear weapons. The insights of 17 contributions offer a nuanced and diverse account of the landscape of nuclear disarmament, arguing that understanding the diversity of regional perspectives, lenses, and approaches is crucial for advancing toward a global nuclear weapons ban. This introduction sets the stage for a detailed exploration of common themes, aiming to shed light on the structural elements that characterize regional and global nuclear politics. For that, we employ a Comparative Area Studies Approach to explore venues and patterns across different regions, offering a comprehensive analysis that underscores the importance of considering local, regional, and global dimensions in tandem. We delineate three key elements that either facilitate or impede the implementation of a nuclear weapons ban: (1) Inclusivity: How key actors participate and are included in the policy-making process at the global, regional, and local levels; (2) Inequalities: how power inequalities shape social processes that enable or hinder the continuity of nuclear weapons; (3) Institutions: how networks and institutions are organized and structured between each other.

Review of “The Color of Homeschooling: How Inequality Shapes School Choice”

Review of “The Color of Homeschooling: How Inequality Shapes School Choice”

Does Inequality Shape Human Character? Cross-Cultural Associations between Character Strengths and the Gini Index in 68 Countries

Environmental factors are crucial in shaping individual characteristics. One key contextual factor is economic inequality, which is increasing in most OECD countries and negatively impacting individuals and societies, including personality traits. To date, no studies examined the relationship between economic inequality and positive personality traits such as character strengths. In a large cross-cultural study (N = 980,807, 68 countries) we investigated the relationship between country-level economic inequality and the level of the 24 character strengths. Across countries, we found consistent, robust evidence that economic inequality is positively linked to 22 character strengths, even after controlling for the Human Development Index, population density, urbanization, and climate of each country. On average, inequality explained 34% of the between-country variance in character strengths. Different alternative explanations for such unexpected effects, including increased competitiveness or resilience in the face of adversity, are discussed. Our research provides novel insights into the importance of environmental factors in shaping human character.

Narratives of research collaboration for sustainability at the global science-policy interface: A vehicle for inequality or transformation?

Collaborative science has become a ‘gold standard’ in sustainability science, to address increasingly complex socio-environmental challenges and knowledge divides. Inequalities shaping research collaborations (RCs) however remain unexplored in the science-policy interface. To address this gap, we carry out a critical discourse analysis of texts by international policy and research actors engaged in the global discourse on science for sustainability. We examine which narratives of RC they mediate, and how these address inequalities related to RC. Our study shows that documents of United Nations bodies primarily mediate a deficit narrative, with focus on a lack of resources and innovation capacity in ‘less developed’ countries. The alternative transformation narrative of RC mediated by reports of UNESCO and other science-policy institutions implementing science for the SDGs offers a more complex picture, which accounts for epistemic inequalities and frames RC as essential to address global challenges. The latter narrative holds most potential for change yet emerges with a varying prevalence, which we explain by institutional contexts and disciplinary diversity of experts. We find a disparity in the visibility of the transformation narrative in texts by policy actors and academic actors implementing science for sustainability. This may have structural implications for RC in global science and the inequalities they (re-)produce or counter. We suggest a more nuanced engagement with RC as policy and research subject for science to deliver the holistic transformation the 2030 Agenda strives for.

The Color of Homeschooling: How Inequality Shapes School Choice

The Color of Homeschooling: How Inequality Shapes School Choice