Social Inequality Within a Society Essay Example for Free

Social Inequality Within a Society Essay Throughout history, social classification has been a basis of economic and social stability. Social classification was introduced to even the predecessors of human civilization, the Mesopotamian civilization. But, due to natural flaws within the structure of the social classification system, this system concluded in becoming biased towards the upper class and unrighteous toward the lower class. Because social classification consistently had flaws which made the system more prejudiced to the lower class, throughout historical times, social classification primarily affected a society in a negative manner. Provided the idea of social inequality through the means of social classification, numerous ancient civilizations including the civilization of Athens, practiced a rigid social classing structure. In the ancient civilization of Athens, the social classing structure was extremely rigid. The upper class of Athens citizens was permitted only to pure blooded male Athenians who were born into their class. The social structure in Athens was very misogynistic toward females. Women were considered vile and loathsome. They were often treated as outcasts and even slaves. According to Bridges, â€Å"Women were rarely seen outside the home and had no rights in the Athenian democracy. † Due to the rigid social class structure of Athens, women were denied all rights. Even though the principles of democracy state that everyone be treated equally under the rule of law, because of the social class structure of Athens, women were completely denied any rights in a democracy. This form of class structure did not only prevail in European civilizations. But, this rigid classification system also prevailed in Middle Eastern and Indian civilizations as well. Indus River Valley civilization practiced an inexorable and rigid form of social classification. One had to inherit their social class by being born into the class. Mobility between classes was impossible. According to Kogl And Moore, â€Å"People were born into social classes that could not be changed. There were 4 Social classes, which were Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishiyas, and Shudras. † Due to the immobile class structure of Indus valley civilization, the citizens were locked in a single class forever. There were four classes which were practiced in Indus Valley Civilization. The Shudras class was considered the lowest class and this class primarily consisted of peasants and serfs. The Shudras were treated as feculence and were also denied natural rights and justice such as freedom to liberty and property. Due to the rigid social class structure in civilizations such as Athens and the Indus River Valley, many classes were predilected upon while the other classes were denied of their social and natural rights. In addition to the historical examples of social inequality and class struggle, many novels also base the idea of social inequality as their major theme. One of such novels is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Since To Kill A Mockingbird was written in 1954, this novel circulates around the idea of social inequality due to racism. Since Africans were viewed as slaves in the 1950s, these foreigners were denied many of the basic rights which were guaranteed to the Caucasians by the Constitution. In this novel, the central conflict revolves around the Tom Robinson case. Tom Robinson is falsely accused of raping white woman, Mayella Ewell. When Dr. Atticus Finch, the protagonist’s father accepts to continue the case on behalf of Tom, he is severely criticized and dishonored to the point where the people of Maycomb agree severely injure Dr. Atticus Finch. According to a character named Bob Ewell in the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, ‘â€Å" Too proud to fight, you nigger-lovin bastard? †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Lee 118). The discrimination due to social class is still prevalent during the time Lee wrote this novel. The major antagonist, Bob Ewell uses the above quotation while trying to murder Dr. Atticus Finch. Bob Ewell is extremely enraged because Dr. Atticus Finch fought against his sister, Mayella just to protect a â€Å"nigger. † This novel conveys a meaning of class struggle and its relative consequences. Because Atticus accepted to protect an innocent African – American man, he upset the entire Maycomb town and almost got assassinated. Multiple classic novels such as To Kill A Mockingbird, transmit an idea of social inequality, and class struggle to overcome the social inequality. They also communicate relative consequences for class struggle. One such novel which conveys a meaning of social inequality and a rigid class structure is the novel, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. In this novel, citizens are predestined to be in one class while in their embryonic stage. While the Alpha embryos are conditioned to excel in academics, the Epsilon embryos are poisoned with alcohol in order to diminish all forms of independent thought processes from their brains. Though the citizens of the Brave New World are in a constant state of confinement, they are educated to become and stay appeased with their servitude. Even though the lower classes in this novel are content with their position, this does not excuse the fact that the lower classes were conditioned to become satisfied with their servitude and that their free will was completely ignored. According to the character named Mustafa Mond in the novel, Brave New World, ‘â€Å"Liberty to be inefficient and miserable. Freedom to be a round peg in a square hole†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Huxley 138). Liberty was considered by the world controllers to be dissatisfying and depressing. Liberty, in the eyes of the world controllers, was unrelated to science and could potentially cause chaos. The world controller, Mustafa Mond is ridiculing the idea of gaining content and satisfaction through the means of liberty. He also uses a metaphor of freedom being a round peg in a square hole, which was happiness and content. He describes through the metaphor that freedom and happiness are completely unrelated and in order to gain happiness, one must sacrifice his freedom. Not only is the ideology of rigid classing structure used in historical times, but this ideology is also used as one of the major themes in novels such as To Kill A Mockingbird and Brave New World in order to persuade the reader about negative effects of social classing structure on humans. Although social classing primarily affected a society in a negative manner, there have been multiple occasions where social class system has affected a society in a positive manner. One of the positive aspects of social classing system is that the classing system eliminates uneducated classes such as the lowest classes of serfs and peasants from making decisions which are grave enough to impact an entire society. Any society would profit from decisions made by educated and wealthy upper classes, rather than uneducated decisions made by an uneducated and poor class. Because the lower classes receive bare minimum to absolutely no education at all, they are likely to make a decision that would be detrimental to the entire society and also to their own class. According to Girard, â€Å"Those who possess a lower socioeconomic status, should not be allowed to make decisions impacting a group. † Due to the lower socioeconomic status of a class of people, they were not properly exposed to in-depth education in order to make educated decisions for their group. This would mean that if there are extremely educated and wealthy classes to make educated decisions for a society, there is no reason to jeopardize the prosperity of a nation by letting lower socioeconomic classes vote. Even though there have been rare circumstances where social classing is proved beneficial, social classing primarily affects any society in a negative manner. In ancient Meso America, several tribes including the Aztecs, have used a rigid and inescapable class structure in order to not only maintain social control, but to also maintain a strong belief in their gods. The aztecs lived their lives in belief that the ancient war God, Huitzilopochtli fought off the vile and inhuman demons in order to make the sun rise again. The Aztecs also believed that God Huitzilopochtli grew extremely feeble and defenseless by battling the darkness and that he required ample amounts of human blood in order to replenish his strength. So, while the upper class of nobles ruled the tribe, they used the commoners as a source of nourishment for the war god. According to Pfeil, â€Å"Huitzilopochtli is first in rank, no one is like unto him. Not vainly do I sing coming forth in the garb of our ancestors, I shine; I glitter. † This ancient Aztec hymm was sung by every victim before he or she was cruelly massacred and had his or her heart gouged out. The Aztecs would sacrifice any commoners including women, children, disaled and the elderly. The social classing structure in tribes such as the Aztecs, was not only injust, but the classing system was also inhumane and deadly. This religious practice was one of the major detriments for the downfall of the Aztecs. Eventhough there have been extremely rare occasions where a society has benefitted from a social class, primarily the social classing structure have always been a negative aspect of a society. The idea of social classing is still prevalent within the modern society. Many countries practice different social classing systems such as Marxism. Marxism is the ideology that the upper class of the society is appropriated a surplus of social product. This simply means that by inheriting or transferring to an upper class, one receives multiple socio-economic benefits. These benefits include unpaid surplus labor. This type of social classification also manifests itself to the society as a negative aspect of social classification. According to Werner, â€Å"This deduction theory of the income of the lower class is thus a factor of debate. † Due to the upper class receiving the surplus amount of socio-economic product, Marxism has caused many riots in countries. But, due to the socio-economic stability, many countries still continue to utilize it. Regardless, this modern form of social classification impacts the society negatively. In finalization to the ideology and structure of the rigid social classification system, the idea is very obvious that the social classification system impacts any society in a negative manner. Numerous ancient civilizations including the civilization of Athens and the Indus River Valley civilization practiced a rigid social classing structure. In addition to the historical examples of social inequality and class struggle, many novels such as Brave New World and To Kill A Mockingbird, also base the idea of social inequality as their major theme. Throughout historical times, Social classification primarily affected a society in a negative manner.