Structural inequality

Structural inequality is defined as a condition where one category of people are attributed an unequal status in relation to other categories of people. This relationship is perpetuated and reinforced by a confluence of unequal relations in roles, functions, decisions, rights, and opportunities. As opposed to cultural inequality, which focuses on the individual decisions associated with these imbalances, structural inequality refers specifically to the inequalities that are systemically rooted in the normal operations of dominant social institutions, and can be divided into categories like residential segregation or healthcare, employment and educational discrimination.Globalization has a complex association with development and inequality, and mandates a new framework to help describe its effects. On one level, global competition in production can lead to productivity improvements that lead to a situation where industrial employment falls behind industrial output in a local market. This can have an enormous impact on developing economies that focus on industrialization. At the same time, the liberalization of trade policies may be the only method of securing growth for land-locked developing nations.Combating structural inequality therefore often requires the broad, policy based structural change on behalf of government organizations, and is often a critical component of poverty reduction. In many ways, a well-organized democratic government that can effectively combine moderate growth with redistributive policies stands the best chance of combating structural inequality.