Theories Of Social Inequality Research Articles

New horizontal inequalities in Japanese education? Examining socioeconomic selectivity in pre-college study abroad intent and participation

The literature on social inequality in study abroad almost exclusively focuses on university students. This paper systematically examines the role of socioeconomic status (SES) for study abroad intent (SAI) and uptake across all levels of pre-college education in Japan, thereby also providing a first in-depth empirical study on pre-college study abroad (PSA) in this country. Drawing on theories of social inequality (especially the effectively maintained inequality (EMI) thesis) in combination with elements from cumulative advantage and life course research, we understand the intention and final decision to study abroad as an outcome of SES-specific differences in educational biographies, with higher SES families seeking transnational education for their children to achieve status advantages. Using large-scale cross-sectional data for Japan ( N = 15,450) for children aged three to eighteen years, binary and generalized ordered logit regressions show that children from high SES families are generally more likely to (1) express SAI (especially for college) and take up PSA; and (2) choose more exclusive forms of PSA, i.e. earlier and more lengthy stays. Findings further indicate that (3) the SES-gap in the likelihood to show SAI or take up PSA is highest at the pre- and high school levels. Applying the KHB method we found that (4) the percentage of SES effects on SAI mediated through earlier PSA experience is marginal or even reversed at times. We conclude that early PSA experience is positively related to further SAI, with high SES students likely accumulating transnational human capital to a greater extent, possibly acquiring status advantages. In sum, our results support the EMI and cumulative advantage perspectives, indicating undetected first- and second-level horizontal inequalities in Japanese education and call for similar research in other national contexts. • The likelihood for pre-college study abroad intent and uptake is higher for children from higher SES backgrounds. • SES effects on short- and long-term pre-college stays abroad are always significant, but highest at pre- and high school. • Prior study abroad hardly mediates SES effects on study abroad intent indicating a widening SES gap in future study abroad. • Our findings point to first- and second-level horizontal inequalities in study abroad uptake in Japan.

Interrogating Citizens’ Inequality and Its Impact on Development in Nigeria’s Democratic Experience (1999-2019): Imperatives for Leadership Re-Orientation and Resilience

Nigeria's democratic experience since 1999 has witnessed poor dividends in terms of developmental strides owing essentially to lack-lustre leadership which has resulted in cries of inequality and marginalization. Thus, ethnic militias, tribal conflicts, threats to nationhood, secessionist agitations, etc pervades the Nigerian landscape. In this paper, secondary source of data and content analysis were relied on. The paper opines that the cumulative negative effects of these tendencies on national cohesion and development leave much to be desired. Using Conflict theories of Social Inequality, the paper further opines that one major development challenge confronting Nigeria is the glaring absence of national cohesion and integration which has earned her the appellation of being a mere geographical expression and not a nation. This has been attributed to leadership incompetence that has failed to address emergent leadership cum developmental issues and peculiarities of the federating nationalities. Thus, the ethnic nationalities clamour to hold on to power at the central and be at the commanding heights of political control, resource allocation and disposition, while the minority ethnic nationalities suffer inequality and development is undermined. Hence the calls for self-determination and re-structuring of the country. Interestingly, leadership response overtime is one characterized by absence of theoretical rigour and direction. This paper sought to interrogate the challenges of widening citizens' inequality, marginalization and rights violation, and its nexus with human development on the one hand, while advocating leadership re-orientation and indeed resilience as adequate mechanism for engendering a crop of citizenry who can participate equitably in nation-building and development. Keywords : Democratic, Leadership, Development, Inequality, Resilience. DOI: 10.7176/DCS/10-10-04 Publication date: October 31 st 2020

A Practice-Based Process Theory of Social Inequality and the Disruptive Role of Entrepreneurship

Although inequality is at historic levels, with an ever smaller portion of society gleaning an increasingly larger portion of social rewards, a not insignificant level of mobility persists that has enabled groups to move up and down the social hierarchy within a few generations. Additionally, although social theorists have long called for the demise of the petit bourgeoisie, or entrepreneur class, it, too, is on the rise. In this paper, we integrate practice theory with entrepreneurship research to develop a process theory of inequality. Instead of focusing on wealth and income disparities, we examine the role of routinized social behaviors, or practices, and we describe how groups within society capture valuable practices, which leads to inequality and social stratification. At the same time, entrepreneurs introduce new practices and reapply or recombine existing practices to facilitate mobility and disrupt social stratification.

New horizons of the theory of society at the turn of the century: from postindustrialism to neocapitalism

The paper aims to trace the formation of new theories of society, of theories of basic social conflict and of theories of social inequality at the turn of the century. These theories are based on a theoretical scheme of “new” capitalism / neocapitalism. They also criticize the established theories of postindustrialim and knowledge society. The new theories focus on analysis of the nature of work in contemporary society, of the structures and dynamics of social inequality. The main point of the analysis carried out in the paper is that knowledge science and technology cannot be viewed as an indepentdent explanatory factor on which to base the research of the actual social relations and their transformation. The theories of postindustrialism and theories of knowledge society do precisely this and that is why they are the object of criticism in the new theories which view knowledge, science and technology as subordinate to the relations of ownership and power.

Sociological theories of social inequality in the second part of 20<sup>th</sup> century. Constructivist perspective

The paper analyzes the transformation processes of the systems of social inequality in the second half of XX century societies. It also views the changes in sociological theories and their research methods brought about by these transformations.

Too Much of a Good Thing? Psychosocial Resources, Gendered Racism, and Suicidal Ideation Among Low-SES African American Women.

Very few studies have examined predictors of suicidal ideation among African American women. Consequently, we have a poor understanding of the combinations of culturally-specific experiences and psychosocial processes that may constitute risk and protective factors for suicide in this population. Drawing on theories of social inequality, medical sociology, and the stress process, we explore the adverse impact of gendered racism experiences and potential moderating factors in a sample of 204 predominantly low-SES African American women. We find that African American women's risk for suicidal ideation is linked to stressors occurring as a function of their distinct social location at the intersection of gender and race. In addition, we find that gendered racism has no effect on suicidal ideation among women with moderate levels of well-being, self-esteem, and active coping, but has a strong adverse influence in those with high and low levels of psychosocial resources.

Lifestyles in distressed neighborhoods: A test of Bourdieu's “taste of necessity” hypothesis

In his theory of social inequality and lifestyle groups, Bourdieu (1979) argued that lower classes exhibit a “taste of necessity”. His main argument is that members of the lower classes are not able to sufficiently convert economic capital into cultural or social capital and vice versa, i.e. to successfully increase their capital volume. This hypothesis has neither been operationalized nor tested so far. We will give an explicit formulation of Bourdieu's theory and develop a test, using indicators derived from Bourdieu's work Distinction. We then apply our model to data from lower class members living in distressed neighborhoods in Cologne, Germany. Groups belonging to the lower classes are located in a “social space”, with dimensions to be interpreted as “capital volume” and “composition of cultural and economic capital”. We show that members of the lower classes cannot sufficiently increase their capital volume since they cannot efficiently convert “cultural capital” into “economic capital” and vice versa, a fact that supports Bourdieu's assumption of a “taste of necessity”.

The Transnationalization of Social Inequality: Conceptualizing Social Positions on a World Scale

The sociology of inequality has focused on the nation-state frame. The article argues that methodological nationalism is increasingly inadequate in a globalizing world. Migrant populations cannot be located in only one nation-state. Labour markets, cultural capital and reciprocal relations have become partly transnational. Both issues can be integrated into a theory of social inequality, if spatial relations are given adequate consideration. The opportunities of actors and the value of resources must be determined in relation to various national and transnational social spaces. Social positions in a world system cannot be characterized only by resource value. They are also structured by spatial autonomy and the quality of the spaces to which (migrant) populations have access. The argument is exemplified by a discussion of highly skilled migrants who possess cultural capital that is transnationally recognized. An analysis of their cultural capital shows how transnational and location-specific cultural capital interrelate.

The Market Transition Debate: Toward a Synthesis?

In his seminal 1989 article, A Theory of Market Transition, Victor Nee offered a new theory of social inequality and applied it to the study of the problem of transition from state socialist redistributive economy to market capitalism. Nee claimed that the emergence of markets in state socialist redistributive economies had unexpected consequences. The most privileged stratum or class of state socialism, the redistributors, lost some of their privilege, while those at the bottom of the state socialist hierarchy, the direct producers, benefited (for earlier formulations see Szelenyi and Konrad [1969], Szelenyi [1978], and Whyte [1984]). As a result, inequality, as measured by income or access to scarce goods, was reduced. Nee's theory identified the mechanisms by which markets generated equality under redistributive systems: if wages are not administratively set, but established by transactive relations, then producers are likely to have more power (market power); if markets operate, then human capital is likely to be rewarded more while political loyalty is likely to matter less (market incentive); if there are markets in a redistributive economy, then entrepreneurship becomes an alternative avenue of socioeconomic mobility (market opportunity; Nee 1989). Data collected in 1985 in rural China offered support to the theory of market transition. Between 1977 and 1985 overall income inequalities in China declined: the income gap between urban residents and farmers shrank; the income gap in the countryside between peasants and cadres also narrowed. The decline of inequality arguably was the result of deregulation of state policies in agriculture. After 1977, Chinese peasants received land, their production targets were less strictly regulated by planners, and they were allowed to bring their produce to urban markets. As