Understanding Social Inequality

Social inequality is a key facet driving sociological study, both from a research and ideological perspective. According to Blalock, however, sociological understanding of the processes leading to inequality are overly simplistic, in their demonstration of the rich and powerful allocating resources to perpetuate their dominance.



In Understanding Social Inequality, the author contends that the processes of allocating resources are far more intricate, involving a process of complex actions, reactions and feedback by all parties in the interaction. Blalock develops a theoretical model of these processes to illustrate how resources are allocated in society and how the accumulation of many individual decisions ultimately lead to social stratification.