Inequality Vs Social Inequality

According to Durkheim, social inequality is the unequal opportunities and rewards that exist due to different social statuses or positions within society. For instance, some dimensions of social inequality include income, wealth, power, occupational prestige, education, ancestry, race, and ethnicity. This is different from natural inequality in that natural inequality stems from differences in physical characteristics; it’s a sense that we as individuals have that we are better at some things compared to other things. Therefore, the main difference between social inequality and natural inequality is that social inequality deals more with the society, while natural inequality deals more with the individual. However, out of these two types of

This margin between individuals is what ultimately compromises solidarity. Moreover, the relation of spontaneity to organic solidarity is that without spontaneity, the existence of external inequalities would only grow and further hinder organic solidarity. Durkheim defines spontaneity as “the absence...of anything that may hamper, even indirectly, the free unfolding of the social force each individual contains within himself” (Durkheim 312-312). What Durkheim means by this is that people in labor should achieve positions which are consistent with their natural abilities; anything that prevents them from so creates a forced division of labor which is not developed spontaneously. This ultimately results in the existence of external inequalities, disrupting the process of organic solidarity. Therefore, solving the problem of externally caused inequality is necessary for the achievement of organic solidarity. Organic solidarity comes about when social cohesion is created through the interdependence of specialized

For organic solidarity to exist, there needs to be social cohesion between individuals. Because social inequality creates external inequalities between individuals that are not solely based on their natural abilities, this can interfere with the social cohesion that is required with organic solidarity. Therefore, organic solidarity is not possible with social inequalities, unless those social inequalities align exactly with natural inequalities. An example of this can be seen in the past history of racism within baseball. Because there was no social cohesion between white and black baseball players, they were often separated between leagues: the majority of whites were in the major league, and the majority of blacks were in the minor league. No matter how great a black baseball player was, he would not be allowed to enter into the major league. This is what social inequality looks like. The natural inequality of a black baseball player, even though it may have surpassed that of white baseball players, was inhibited by the social inequality of race. If both the performance of the baseball player and his race were to align, then social cohesion, and consequently organic solidarity, would be achieved within the baseball league. This is why Durkheim believes that social inequality cannot exist within organically solidaristic societies unless the social