College Degrees for Social Justice How to turn your education into a career fighting inequality

The term “social inequality” provides an overarching framework for examining injustices related to race, age, gender or socioeconomic status. It is concerned with general ideas of discrimination and uneven systems of reward and punishment for specific behaviors.

Did you know that the top 10 percent of American wage earners make nine times the average salary of the other 90 percent? Economic inequalities come into play when looking at income, pay and wealth disparities and how they correlate to factors such as race, gender and socioeconomic status. As the gap between the top and bottom earners widens, those in the lower tiers face decreasing access to economic opportunities.

Racial inequalities exist at many levels, including education. Forty-seven percent of white citizens hold at least an associate degree, while the number drops to 33 percent for African-American citizens and 23 percent for Latinos. Meanwhile, in 2011 the median income for an African-American household was $27,000, 41 percent lower than for an average white household. Regardless of the context, racial minorities lag in countless areas of access, leading to deepened inequalities throughout their personal and professional lives.

The global economy expanded between 2001 and 2011, cutting the portion of the global population living below the poverty line—making fewer than two dollars a day—from 30 percent to 15 percent. Still, a 2014 Oxfam report found that the 85 richest people on the planet possess more wealth than the 3.5 billion poorest.

Imagine two children are born on this day, one in Malawi and one in Japan. Due to current health inequalities and living conditions, the Japanese child’s life expectancy is already 36 years longer. While uneven access to healthcare is a major facet of health inequality, living and working conditions are also important factors. Recent years have seen progress in the U.S., but global health remains a pressing issue.

Although the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in 2015, LGBTQ individuals can still be legally fired from their jobs in some states due to their sexuality. Likewise, although women comprise more than half of the American population and hold the same titles as male coworkers, they are still paid 21 percent less than male colleagues. Inequalities in these populations often stem from prejudice or ignorance, so activists can make an impact by educating their communities on the issues.