Understanding Crime
Week 6 Lecture Notes
Crime, Social Inequality and Intersectionality
Social Inequalities
• The notion of social inequality only refers to di erences in such parameters that have an
in uence on the social position of an individual.
• In order to count as social inequality, the unequal distribution of goods must not be natural or
accidental.
• Inequality is often understood to be socio-economic, this is just a single measure of inequality
but one that is now closely associated with social inequalities in terms of outcomes.
• Although Australia is a prosperous country, there is increasing inequality and persistent
locations disadvantage that means many areas have seen little change in issues such as
unemployment, poverty, contact with the justice system, homelessness and child maltreatment
despite more than a decade of investment.
Social Division
• Social division can be de ned as those aspects of inequality that include both horizontal and
vertical boundaries between social groups.
- Social class
- Income, wealth
- Education
- Gender
- Ethnicity/ race
- Age
- Location, housing and geography
- Social status
- Disability
- Sexuality
- Health
Social Strati cation
• An enduring hierarchy of inequality in which groups are positioned according to the systematic,
unequal distribution of a particular variable or combination of variables.
• It refers to arrangements for inequalities embedded in a society’s institutions that are practiced
and experienced in everyday life.
• It is the root of all privileged, social exclusion, and oppression.
• Our diverse society re ects myriad culturally and individually determined sets of values and
ideas about the societal world, accepted of di erent perspectives and life experiences.
• This value is context- dependent, subject to change over time and space and is often predicted
on any number o intersecting statuses.
• Measured by income and/ or wealth, social status/ privilege, and power.
Social Class
• As a large scale grouping of people who share common economic resources, which strongly
in uence the type of lifestyle they are able to lead.
• In Australia social strati cation is usually determined through social class:
- Upper (Ruling/ Elite) Class: wealthiest members of society, great political power, usually
generational.
- Middle class: between working and upper class.
- Working class: individuals employed mainly in skilled and industrial work, manual labour.
- Underclass: the lowest class consisting of the poor and unemployed.
• Social mobility- is a tricky concept to de ne, but it is often used to refer to the ability of
individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to move up in the world, akin too the notion of
equality of opportunity.
fl
fi ff fl fi fi fi ff
Week 6 Lecture Notes
Crime, Social Inequality and Intersectionality
Social Inequalities
• The notion of social inequality only refers to di erences in such parameters that have an
in uence on the social position of an individual.
• In order to count as social inequality, the unequal distribution of goods must not be natural or
accidental.
• Inequality is often understood to be socio-economic, this is just a single measure of inequality
but one that is now closely associated with social inequalities in terms of outcomes.
• Although Australia is a prosperous country, there is increasing inequality and persistent
locations disadvantage that means many areas have seen little change in issues such as
unemployment, poverty, contact with the justice system, homelessness and child maltreatment
despite more than a decade of investment.
Social Division
• Social division can be de ned as those aspects of inequality that include both horizontal and
vertical boundaries between social groups.
- Social class
- Income, wealth
- Education
- Gender
- Ethnicity/ race
- Age
- Location, housing and geography
- Social status
- Disability
- Sexuality
- Health
Social Strati cation
• An enduring hierarchy of inequality in which groups are positioned according to the systematic,
unequal distribution of a particular variable or combination of variables.
• It refers to arrangements for inequalities embedded in a society’s institutions that are practiced
and experienced in everyday life.
• It is the root of all privileged, social exclusion, and oppression.
• Our diverse society re ects myriad culturally and individually determined sets of values and
ideas about the societal world, accepted of di erent perspectives and life experiences.
• This value is context- dependent, subject to change over time and space and is often predicted
on any number o intersecting statuses.
• Measured by income and/ or wealth, social status/ privilege, and power.
Social Class
• As a large scale grouping of people who share common economic resources, which strongly
in uence the type of lifestyle they are able to lead.
• In Australia social strati cation is usually determined through social class:
- Upper (Ruling/ Elite) Class: wealthiest members of society, great political power, usually
generational.
- Middle class: between working and upper class.
- Working class: individuals employed mainly in skilled and industrial work, manual labour.
- Underclass: the lowest class consisting of the poor and unemployed.
• Social mobility- is a tricky concept to de ne, but it is often used to refer to the ability of
individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to move up in the world, akin too the notion of
equality of opportunity.
fl
fi ff fl fi fi fi ff
