Rethinking Social Inequality by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780566005572
Goodreads: 8399055
Publisher: Gower Publishing Company
Published: 1982-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Egalitarianism and Social Inequality

The myth, however, receives little support from available evidence, which points to Scotland being a more not less unequal society than England.

With regard to eguality of economic resources and social condition, for example, Scotland fares badly in comparison with other parts of Britain.

Wealth is more unegually distributed in Scotland than in England or in Wales. In 1975, the top one per cent of the population over eighteen owned twenty-seven per cent of all wealth, compared with twenty-three per cent in England and Wales. (8) Scotland cannot compare with the more egual distribution of wealth in Wales, (9) and despite the obvious methodological pitfalls involved in doing this sort of comparison, it seems safe to say that Scotland is more unequal in this respect.

In terms of the distribution of income, the picture is not very different. Whereas the average earnings of manual workers have been above the UK average since 1975, poverty and deprivation are major problems in Scotland. (10) Low pay, unemployment and disability have kept upwards of twenty-five per cent of the population in poverty. This is compounded by the concentration of deprivation (11) in Scotland’s towns and cities, particularly in purpose-built council schemes, and reinforced by Scotland’s dependence on public sector housing.

With regard to equality of social opportunity and academic achievement, there appears to be little to support the myth. The Aberdeen social mobility study shows a pattern of mobility not very different from that for England and Wales, (12) while Scotland’s social and occupational structures are different in degree rather than kind. (13) Recent work also gives the lie to the assumption that Scots have a greater chance of educational advancement. In terms of access to higher education, the position is, if anything, worse. (14)

Certainly, the ‘facts’ concerning the extent of social inequality in contemporary Scotland offer little support for the egalitarian myth, but, by and large, myths do not depend on ‘facts’ to sustain them. Strictly speaking, egalitarianism and social inequality are not directly comparable. Egalitarianism refers essentially to a set of social values, a social ethos, a celebration of sacred beliefs; social inequality is a characterisation of the social structure referring specifically to the distribution of resources and opportunities.

In this respect, the co-existence in Scotland of the egalitarian myth with structured social ineguality need not be a contradiction, although the apparent anomaly may give impetus to those who judge it to be one.

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