What is the ‘inequality problem’?

Theoretical research

This challenge aims to gather new knowledge on a topic, which contributes and adds value to the already existing knowledge on this topic.

Description

Inequalities keep pertaining our society on both local, national and global levels. This issue lies on categorization of people and their belonging to a certain religious group, skin color, gender, sexual preferences, mental or physical limitations, ethnicity etc., but it can also be rooted in the economic and social status, availability of resources or other means.

Securing equality is one of the key points on many social and political agendas. However, with the rise of populism and continuous capital inequality, the matter of exclusion versus inclusion is a very relevant topic that requires further investigation.

The main goal of this challenge will be to investigate the problem of inequality, and the empirical and normative questions this issue raises. Inequality leads to inclusion and exclusion, and it is important to know its causes before we can even try to understand how to solve this issue.

Perspectives and possible directions

Being deeply rooted in society, the topic of inequality raises empirical and normative questions for a number of disciplines, such as sociology, economics, history and laws.

We talk about both individual perceptions of inequality and systems/policies in place to tackle those, as well as processes and tensions that exist within the society regarding inequality.

What is the role of globalization on the economic growth and the distribution of resources between various social groups and how can we tackle it? How did the concept of inequality change over time and how can we explain its presence historically?

The Covid-19 pandemic for example, only a few years ago, has made the topic of inequality even more urgent than ever with no equal access to health care and no equal distribution of vaccinations for example. However, what about the social and economic implications to the topic of inequality post pandemic? Is this paradigm shift an opportunity to establish more equality worldwide, or does this shift actually lead to an even bigger inequality gap?