Abstract
To speak of a social inequality is to describe some valued attribute which can be distributed across the relevant units of a society in different quantities, where ‘inequality’ therefore implies that different units possess different amounts of this attribute. The units can be individuals, families, social groups, communities, nations; the attributes include such things as income, wealth, status, knowledge, power. The study of inequality then consists of explaining the determinants and consequences of the distribution of these attributes across the appropriate units.
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© 1989 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Wright, E.O. (1989). Inequality. In: Eatwell, J., Milgate, M., Newman, P. (eds) Social Economics. The New Palgrave. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19806-1_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19806-1_20
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