Inequality, Opportunity, and Social Mobility

“Eat your vegetables, there are starving children in [insert here: a nation believed to be less fortunate than your own].”
How many times have you heard some form of this phrase growing up? Maybe it was in your own home or maybe you heard it in the media. Aside from persuading people to be grateful for what is on their plate, what else might this statement be communicating? Does it make you wonder why there are starving children in the world? What opportunities might your parents have had compared to others that allowed them to make sure that you did not starve?
Inequality of resources and opportunities for everyone leads to a variety of social issues—poverty, homelessness, and inadequate health care—just to name a few. For those with access to fewer opportunities, many families encourage their children to seek different avenues that might allow them to exceed the lifestyle their parents provided. As a result, societies often focus on balancing access to opportunities to enable the less fortunate to move up the socioeconomic ladder toward greater self-sufficiency.
For this Discussion, you will examine the influence of inequality on the opportunity and social mobility. You also will explore the impact of policies on increasing equality and social mobility among members of society.
Post at least a 2-paragraph response to the following prompts:
Describe inequality in your own words.
Explain the impact of inequality on people’s lives.
Explain whether equality of opportunity within society is a reality. Explain why or why not.
Explain whether policies can be designed to ensure greater equality and improve social mobility among members of society. Explain why or why not.
Explain whether inequality is a contributing factor to your chosen social issue from Week 1.


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