Sociological Explanations of Unequal Distributions of...

Sociology Homework: Examine the sociological explanations of unequal distributions of wealth and income in contemporary Britain (24 marks) There are five main sociological explanations of unequal distributions of wealth and income in contemporary Britain that I will be discussing as well as explaining within this essay. One sociological explanation for the unequal distribution of wealth and income in contemporary Britain is because it is necessary for the maintenance of society. This is argued by functionalists such as Davis and Moore who suggest that inequality in wealth and income is very significant due to the fact that some jobs are seen as more functionally important than others. As well as this, they believe that meritocratic†¦show more content†¦However this theory can be criticised as it only looks at inequality within class and not inequality within gender, age or other aspects. In addition to this this theory also fails to explain inequality within men and women from different cultural and traditional backgrounds. A further explanation is because of market situation of individual workers in the labour market. This is argued by a social theorist in the name of Weber, who suggested that wealth and income inequality occurs because some jobs have high rewards due to the fact that they are associated with strong trade unions. Other reasons are because of how high the demand is or because of key attributes needed in order to undertake a job. A prime example would be people employed to undertake transport services e.g train or bus drivers. On average Train drivers get around  £ 41,000 a year while nurses or school secretaries get around 15-27,000 a year. We see that this is the case because train drivers are linked to trade unions such as the TLC which help make the decisions of striking or protesting if something is wrong and its difficult for the government to oppose transport workers as a lot of people rely on tubes and buses to get to work and if trains and buses don’t operate then no mo ney will go towards the government. This links to contemporary Britain because some jobs don’t give highShow MoreRelatedIs Class a Zombie Category? Essay example5045 Words   |  21 PagesIs class a zombie category? - by Daniel Byrne ‘Talent is 21st century wealth. †¦ It is the nations only hope of salvation †¦ Not equal incomes. Not uniform lifestyles or taste or culture. But true equality: equal worth, an equal chance of fulfillment, equal access to knowledge and opportunity. Equal rights. Equal responsibilities’ (BBC, 1999). 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