Question

Essay on social equality(status and opportunities)

Answer 1

Social equality/balance is a social condition of affairs when all individuals of a particular region, group, or country have the matching status in certain aspects. The very least form of social balance is having equivalent rights under the law, which encompasses same voting rights, property rights, and balanced accessibility to social goods and services. In addition, it also encompasses some concepts of economic equality; access to health care, education, balanced opportunities and responsibilities, and other social securities. Such a state is free from artificially formulated laws and boundaries that perpetuate discrimination on grounds of gender, age, race, origin, religion, language, disability, and opinions, which not only results in partial treatment under the law, but also denies opportunities unjustifiably. Klasen (2002) argues that there may be only few societies which can achieve absolute social equality due to the existence of dividing factors, and even though liberals have a higher preference of this ideal situation, it does not exist anywhere globally today. Social evolution moved the world closer to suitable state of social balance contrary to the social inequality that was experienced in the nineteenth century, where in Europe, girls were on denied access to higher education on a mere basis of gender and were required to apply for an ‘exemption from gender’ to attain enrollment to university. The situation was worse in South Africa during the apartheid regime, when the blacks and the whites were virtually absolute different social services; each had their own schools, hospitals, and roads. Various factors negatively influence the achievement of social equality. One of them is income factor, when individuals in the society earn different income with some ‘pocketing’ huge amount of salaries and majority getting meager salaries and wages which do not afford to provide for the basic needs of their families, while the highly paid often adapt an extravagant lifestyle with ample amount to spare and ‘throw around’. The gap between the rich and the poor has been widening, creating a situation of inequitable distribution of resources among the citizens. This makes people have a totally different social lifestyle; richer fellows take their children to expensive private schools with suitable learning environment and with the most competent and skilled teachers. They easily access better private expensive health care services from well trained and paid doctors. Poor people take their children to cheap schools which are not well equipped with facilities (Anne 2004).
Efforts need to be made in achievement of social security in regions, countries, and even globally. The strategies ought to be practical and aimed at solving the challenges of social equality; therefore, it is important that identifying the obstacles and contextualizing the strategies was in line with challenges that are identified.

Answer 2

Social equality is the status in which individuals are equally grouped and have no social stratification.

No class differences.

Social equality is important because it leads to equally distribution of resources and equal treatment of individuals.

This has a negative impact in that there is no competition and the development or economic growth will be stagnated.