Social equality

Social equality is the concept that all members of a society have the same social status and have equal opportunities to benefit from the advantages of that society. The belief in social equality is known as egalitarianism, from the French word égalité, meaning “equality” or “parity.” While a dictionary definition of social equality may be relatively simple to arrive at, defining the concept in practical, real-world terms is a more difficult task. All views of social equality hold that an egalitarian society does not have a legally binding class system and that each member of society has the same civil rights, basic freedoms, and access to goods and services. However, some believe that true social equality can only be achieved when certain aspects of a society, such as wealth and political power, are distributed equally among all its members.

Brief History

For most of the prehistoric era, humans were hunter-gatherers, living in nomadic groups that continually moved in search of food. The resources of these early humans were completely devoted to survival, with all members of the group taking part in either hunting for game or foraging for other sources of food. In some prehistoric societies, labor was divided along gender lines as the men hunted and women foraged, cooked, and cared for the children. However, this pattern was not universal, and in many societies tasks were evenly distributed between men and women. Prehistoric communities tended to be smaller with individual members on relatively equal social footing.

About twelve thousand years ago, the glaciers that covered much of the planet during the last ice age began to recede, opening up new lands to the nomadic groups of hunters. The warming planet changed the environment and eventually led to the development of agriculture and the domestication of animals. These developments, often referred to as the Agricultural Revolution, had a profound effect on human societies. Instead of constantly migrating in search of food, people began growing it themselves and settling in larger groups. Because agricultural communities could grow food to feed a larger number of people, not every member of society was needed to take part in food gathering operations. Instead of focusing exclusively on hunting or foraging for survival, people were free to specialize in different occupations.

This wider division of labor led to the first stratification in human societies. Those who produced the food and managed the surpluses rose to positions of power within the community. Craftsmen and traders who made and sold goods also began accumulating more wealth. Because surplus food stores were often the target of raids from other groups, a warrior class developed to defend against outside attacks. Larger populations also meant more people were needed to work the fields, prompting many societies to build a labor force by capturing slaves.

By the time the first civilizations developed about five thousand years ago, societies were stratified into social classes. In general, ancient social classes consisted of an upper class that included the kings, nobles, and warriors; a middle class that may have included merchants, artisans, and farmers; and a lower class made up of slaves or peasant farmers. The concept of social class was common throughout human societies, although the class boundaries varied by culture. For example, in ancient Mesopotamia, merchants were part of the upper class. In feudal Japan, merchants occupied the lowest rung on the social ladder.

Overview

The modern concept of social equality did not develop until the eighteenth century during a period of intellectual advancement known as the Enlightenment. Scientists and philosophers of the time began to discard the old, traditional ways of viewing the universe and adopted a new worldview based on logic and reason. One of the most influential philosophies to arise from the Enlightenment was the idea that all humans had the same fundamental natural rights. Rather than blindly accepting that members of the upper classes were inherently “better” than the lower classes, this new way of thinking held that all members of society should be treated equally. This philosophy was one of the primary influences for independence movements in both the United States and France in the late eighteenth century. Its ideals can be seen in the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence that state “all men are created equal” and have the God-given rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Equality of Opportunity

In theory, the United States and other Western democracies embraced a concept of social equality known as equality of opportunity—the idea that all members of society live under the same rules and have the same chance of achieving success. A person’s social standing upon birth is not guaranteed, but can change, either positively or negatively, based upon how an individual takes advantage of the opportunities they encounter in life. Under this concept of equality, educational, financial, and social opportunities are equally attainable by everyone, regardless of their race, gender, religion, or economic status. The only factors that matter in achieving success are ability, determination, and merit.

However, social equality through opportunity is far more difficult to achieve in reality. At the time the Declaration of Independence was written, and for nearly a century afterwards, millions of African slaves were not considered among those “created equal” in the United States. Even after slavery was abolished in 1865, African Americans faced significant discrimination that prevented them from attaining the same opportunities afforded to White Americans. Other groups such as women, immigrants, religious minorities, the uneducated, and the poor also had substantial obstacles to overcome.

Many societies have tried to address these issues by passing legislation designed to increase opportunities for members of these groups. For example, mandatory schooling laws are meant to ensure all members of society have at least a minimally accepted level of education. Anti-discrimination laws make it illegal to deny anyone an opportunity for success based on their race, gender, religion, or other social factors. In some cases, affirmative action programs provide members of disadvantaged populations the opportunity to attend universities, find jobs, and receive promotions they might otherwise have missed out on.

Equality of Condition

This form of social equality takes into account that while each person may have the same opportunities for equality, each person is also very different and has varying levels of ability, experience, and economic resources. Many people also come from distinct backgrounds that can affect how they interact with society as a whole. Some basic tenets of equality are universal and are not affected by the differences between people. For example, all citizens of the United States have the same rights to vote, the rights of free speech and expression, and the right to equal treatment under the law. However, in some cases, equality of condition requires the basic rules of society to be adjusted to allow for people of disparate means to have relatively the same starting opportunity. This concept is sometimes referred to as “leveling the playing field” to provide a more fair environment that allows people of different capabilities the same chances for success. This can involve incorporating wheelchair ramps or handrails into construction designs to help people with physical disabilities gain easier access to public buildings. It can also include changing the wording on standardized student tests to take into account cultural or regional differences among students in certain school districts.

A primary factor in the social equality of condition is the availability of resources to each person in society. Resources can refer to anything from family relationships, to material possessions, to financial assets. For example, wealthy family members could use their business connections to get a child a job at a prestigious company. That same company may, in turn, offer an internship to someone from a disadvantaged background to provide them with an opportunity to succeed. In the United States, government programs such as food stamps, housing assistance, and Medicaid help people with lower incomes afford the same basic needs as other members of society.

Equality of Outcome

The concept of equality of outcome holds that it is the end result of the process of attaining equality that matters, not the starting point. True social equality can only be achieved when all members of society have relatively equal levels of income, resources, and political power. This ideal was one of the primary underpinnings of the political philosophy of Karl Marx, a nineteenth-century social philosopher whose theories were the basis for modern socialist and communist ideologies. Marx was highly critical of free-market capitalistic societies, which tend to place an emphasis on attaining equality through opportunity. Both socialism and communism focus on equality of outcome where a centralized authority ensures that all members of society have an equal amount of resources.

Communism is a more strict form of government and is created by the overthrow of the existing class structure. Social classes are abolished completely and resources such as wealth and property are distributed equally among the entire population. Socialism is less rigid and operates within the framework of an existing government. In most cases, it allows for free elections, some free-market aspects, and some private ownership of property. However, a socialist government controls the economic means of production and redistributes society’s resources on what it considers to be a more equitable basis.

Proponents of equality of outcome do not believe the ideal can be limited to socialist or communist societies. Capitalist societies such as the United States are often criticized for allowing the development of a hierarchical social class in which the majority of economic resources are concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy elites. In general, American society can be divided into four classes: a lower class, a working class, a middle class, and an upper class. Some models include a fifth class—the super wealthy—at the top of the hierarchy. While theoretically, equality of opportunity allows people upward class mobility, critics claim achieving such success has become more difficult in the modern economy.

Statistics show the gap between the super wealthy and other social classes has increased significantly in the early twenty-first century. According to a 2018 study from the Economic Policy Institute, the top 1 percent of Americans in 2015 earned more than twenty-six times what the other 99 percent earned. In 2023, it was reported that the top 1 percent of American earners own more wealth than the entire middle class. The continued shrinking of the middle class has many worried about the wealth gap in the country. Concerns among some critics state that the American society is becoming progressively unequal and more stratified. They believe that this social inequality can be fixed by adopting the philosophies of equality of outcome. For example, significantly increasing taxes on the upper class and super wealthy can create increased revenues that can be redistributed to the middle and lower classes though social programs. Similar strategies involve putting a limit on salaries for corporate executives while raising wages for people in the working class.

Relational Equality

On a smaller scale, the idea of relational equality refers to individuals considering each other as moral equals with the same levels of social rank and power. This concept ignores material resources and focuses on how members of society treat each other in everyday proceedings. For example, centuries ago, people referred to members of the upper classes by titles such as “lord” or “lady.” In modern societies where such social distinctions are obsolete, people may refer to any member of society using courtesy titles such as “Mr.,” “Mrs.,” or “Ms.” Relational equality can also be seen in places such as the classroom and workplace. If these environments are administered properly, students and workers are treated as equals and given the same opportunities for success regardless of social or economic background.

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