Socioeconomic diversity Flashcards
(19 cards)
What is the definition of inequality?
Cambridge dictionary:
The unfair situation in society when some people have more opportunities, money, etc than other people (cambridge)
Inequality between different social classes
- access to education (privilege in jobs), access to resources/opportunities
The factors that determine one’’s SES highlights that the differences inevitably lead to inequality between the ‘have’ and ‘have-not’.
- those who have —> more privileged (more wealth, better access to different opportunities, privileged that they are not aware of)
Vs those who don’t have (have-nots)
What is the definition of poverty?
The state in which people lack the means to satisfy their basic needs (Britannia) —> not just money, proper housing (rent), access to opportunities, basic healthcare, food, sustenance, clothing etc
What is the definition of class divide?
Tensions caused by the divide between the haves and the have-nots; can be little social cues that cause a sense of separation and slowly widen the divide (CNA’s Regardless of Class)
- potential of slowly widening the divide)
The have and have-nots can lead to jealously, condescension, discrimination and prejudice.
What is the definition of socio-economic status?
Economic situation (and social standing) shared by a group of people. It is measured by determinants.
- Occupation
- Income
- Education (level and school) —> not just in school but outside of school as well. But for education in school some e.g. include (level of graduation —> diploma, undergraduate degree, masters, PHD, and school that they have attended)
- Ownership of wealth and ability to pass on this amount of wealth to their next subsequent generations.
What are the types of socio-economic status?
High
Middle
Low income
These three terms —> use in a neutral way
Low income, low SES may take on a more derogatory meaning
- not meant to insult
- but to understand their socio-economic status
Low can be derogatory for some people. SES should not be a term of insult
What contributes to socioeconomic diversity?
Some groups of people share similar aspects
- financial resources
- occupational status
- social status
- social circles
- networks
For other groups, these aspects differ
Therefore, contributing to socioeconomic diversity
When these determinants come together, they contribute to socio-economic diversity in society.
Differences in these different levels —> will inevitably lead to inequality
What are the good thing and bad thing of having socioeconomic diversity?
Good
- diverse perspectives
- authentic
Bad
- discrimination
- reluctance/ inability to understand —> leads to problems
(Prejudice)
The factors that determine one’s SES highlights that the differences inevitably lead to _________.
Inequality
This is because of the unfair situation and people have more opportunities which may allow them to earn more money
What are the two main sub groups of inequality that can be used to support the point of the problems that it will lead to? Explain.
Inequality
- monetary (money)
- income
- wealth
- social capital (access to social networks and influence you can get from being in social circles/networks)
- status or influence in society (e.g. influencers, famous people in high position has higher social capital)
Rich people?
- CEO of big company
- use money to gain popularity (gain advantages that people want to make use of)
More people will be more willing to be linked with people with higher social capital as compared to people with lower social capital since they will have more opportunities (for instance get a job from them or expand their network and social connections which increases their chances of success)
Therefore CEOs will just mix around with one another —>leading to the problem of “clear divide between those with money and those without” —> monetary
If these inequality is not managed well, it will lead to challenges such as:
- exacerbates poverty (preventing them from gaining more money), ‘poor stays poor’ —> limiting social mobility —> remain oppressed by rich people
- The people who are underprivileged/low income in society is bound to suffer and be most heavily impacted by inequality.
- widens class divide (between have and have-nots)
What is Income?
Defined by earnings from economic activity
E.g. salaried work, business commerce, rental etc
- focuses on current economic activity
- usually more fluid as income can change with a promotion/ job change
- no income doesn’t mean poor, because they probably still have saving
Income distributions show difference in quality of employment opportunities and the availability of good wages
What is Wealth?
(accumulation of assets)
- low SES take longer time to accumulate wealth
- Defined by what you own in assets (goods, property, investments) minus what you own in liabilities (debt)
- Focuses on accumulated economic benefits, e.g. income saved, invested or inheritance,
- those who have income have expenses that does not exceed its income, so they will have savings and accumulate wealth
- usually more static as wealth does not fluctuate much outside of economic upheavals.
Wealth distribution shows differences in privilege based on family health, assets and investment opportunities
What is a simple sentence to describe the differences between income and wealth?
Income: how much you earn
Wealth: how much you own
Why is it important to understand income and wealth and its differences ?
Understanding both is key to
- address inequality
- create fair policies (economic)
- ensure long-term economic stability
income
- income distributions shows differences in quality of employment opportunities and the availability of good wages
- if you understand income distribution, you will be able to understand the short term economic wellbeing such as the living standards of people and the day to day affordability of goods
Wealth
- wealth distribution shows differences in privilege based on family wealth, assets and investment opportunities that they partake in
- explain long-term inequalities more accurately as it is typically more unequally distributed than income distribution
- more important tells you issues regarding long term inequality in the society
When you chart a graph of the wealth distribution say within a particular social class or across social class, you tend to see that maybe the top 10 percentile vs the bottom 20 percentile tends to be very wide
Differences between what they own (assets, investment)
- we can tell the huge class divide —> accumulated wealth
Know the percentile that is considered have and have-nots —> shape your understanding of how they will affect future generations on their access to opportunities, inherited wealth and influence they can make to the society
Explain more about poverty.
there are different perspectives:
- absolute poverty:
Threshold income level below which individuals cannot meet-their basic needs —> in SG this is not present, no poverty line is shown - poverty line is established for some country
- Singapore has no poverty line
- relative poverty: pegged to the % of a country’s median income, indicating a significant disparity compared to overall standard of living.
- Singapore use this
- multi-dimensional: look at indicators such as access to healthcare, education and disempowerment
Poverty
- poor becomes poor or remains poor
- poverty cycle that they are tapped in
- > no actual help
- slow social mobility
- Lack of money to survive the day-to-day needs
- cannot plan for the future
- cannot build wealth
- cannot invest in insurance
So based on the above two, the kids cannot go out of poverty as well, suggesting that poverty is an intergenerational problem and can have detrimental impacts.
- their expenses are also higher than their income —> will be in debt and no savings
- unable to plan ahead
- not enough money to spend in the long term (child’s education, medical bills)
- self-perpetuating cycle
- unable to uplift and find social mobility
Explain more about class divide
- discrimination (don’t want to befriend lower social status people)
- stems from stereotypes “ They don’t work hard”
- lack of understanding of different perspectives/world view —>discrimination, prejudice, stereotypes —> social tensions, lack of harmony
Why does inequality exist in a country that has socio-economic diversity?
Important to recognise the different ‘starting points’ we may have in life that contributes to inequality among socioeconomic class.
- this influence our access to opportunities
- influences our SES
We don’t live in a communist society (so people here in Singapore have unequal resources) —> inevitably leads of inequality among different social classes
Exacerbated by many external factors
-structural and policy gaps (where perhaps certain policies may favour one social class as compared to others)
- shaped by the environment that we grew up in (For e.g. if your family has already inherited generations of wealth —> puts you at a head start as compared to some of your peers who may not have the same amount of wealth as you do)
What are the consequences of rising inequality in Singapore?
- gap between have and have nots is widening
- increased frustration from the middle and lower income against the higher income due to contrasting perspective —> social tension and class divide
Perspectives —> understanding of wealth and the privilege that one may have to allow them to acquire wealth and opportunities —> influence SES
Lower and middle income do not understand what it feels like in the higher income —> may feel jealous about the privileges and opportunities that the higher income people have
On the other hand, higher income people may look down on the middle and lower income group (condescension) think they are not willing to work hard so they are in these groups —> sentiments and prejudices start increasing —> inevitably lead to social tensions and class divide, reluctance to mingle among different social classes
- some are being left behind(especially lower income groups) in the pursuit of economic growth —> slower social mobility due to lack of access to opportunities
Social mobility —> important to understand when looking at SES —> help us to understand how we can uplift the underprivileged (lower-income) to move up the social ladder (equal opportunities and equal outcomes like the higher income groups)
Society that tends to favour or benefit the higher income, don’t look after the lower income as much
- wealth gap will increase
- harder for lower income to catch up, lesser opportunities to catch up —> result in slower social mobility
- Wealth can be entrenched in families (higher income status) , causing gap to widen over time
E.g.
Higher income —> prefer that wealth is kept within the family and is not distributed and shared across other social economic status —> thus bringing privileges to them
Entrenched —> each passing generation —> accumulated and inherited to the next generation.
Growing amount of wealth.
Unless economic upheaval, they tend to get richer and richer, nothing left for lower-income groups, lesser opportunities for them to move up the social ladder.
If lower income find that they have lower opportunities to uplift themselves they have to rely on social support systems. Government have to support them by getting income tax to channel to the poor and underprivileged.
Government has to step in more, more resources to be channeled
- strain on social support systems as burden is placed on public funding to support a growing lower income and underprivileged population
- more public funds
Who bears the cost of all this public funding —> Us
- painful for middle income who may not be underprivileged but do not have enough wealth and resources.
How is poverty tracked in Singapore?
Perspective of relative poverty
- no official ‘poverty line’ unlike in other countries
- poverty is define based on different ministries
- different ministries use their own household income thresholds for administering support
ComCare —> income threshold: $1900
- if you fall below this, you can apply for financial assistance and will be eligible because you are deem in a situation of poverty
MOE: $2750
HDB: $1500
- their household income threshold
Using relative poverty could be better
- at least, instead of having one absolute line, we help based on their absolute needs
- housing subsidiaries can be given to those who need it more than you
- NUS study 2019: absolute poverty rate of 13.39% (based on $2008 threshold) and a relative poverty rate of 24.02% (based on different<50% of median income)
- more Singaporeans are unable to keep up with the overall standard of living in the country
Shows that when we use a relative poverty to measure—> more Singaporeans will fall into it —> more are unable to keep up with the overall standard of living
How does living in poverty affect low-income Singaporeans?
- ‘Tunnel vision’: Inability to make good decision for future planning
- attention is focused on immediate needs, stressed out by everyday problems (survival, feed my kids, pay electricity bills)
- no mental capacity to plan ahead and think about budgeting. Mentally exhausting
- gaps in the system that excludes them, e.g. credit card application —> cannot benefit from the help needed
—> having an income lower than $30 000 annually base limit
—> if she could gain some of the benefits (discount, the more you spend, the more you save)
—> unable to leverage from the promotion and discount —> more detrimental for her, she is spending more money in order to get a lesser amount of product —> systemic gaps
—> when applying for financial assistance and financial aids, the form tends to be tedious, long, have to be written in English. (Those who are not good in English, not educated in English —> troublesome and tedious)
—> forego these financial assistance schemes —> cannot leverage from these support
