Answer:

♤ Social inequality refers to the ways in which socially-defined categories of persons (according to characteristics such as gender, age, class and ethnicity) are differentially positioned with regard to access to a variety of social ‘goods’, such as the labour market and other sources of income, the education and healthcare systems, and forms of political representation and participation.

♤ The current process of globalisation has resulted in the globalisation of national policies and policy-making mechanisms of national governments. Under pressure from international organisations and MNCs the national governments have had to restructure their economies which demands more thrust on free trade and less spending on social sector. Governments have had to reduce expenditures on social sectors such as education, healthcare, sanitation, transportation etc. Hence, social inequalities particularly in developing economies continue to fester as government’s role in ensuring social justice is reduced.

♤ On the other hand, the net result of the globalisation and its attendant processes of liberalisation and privatisation has been the concentration of wealth in the hands of few as economic inequalities widens across both the developed and developing world.

♤ Also, this growing economic inequality is positively correlated with the social inequalities based on gender, age, class and ethnicity. Examples of this phenomenon are:

o Feminisation of labour force, i.e. concentration of women in low-paid jobs labour-intensive or service-intensive jobs in apparel, shoe-making, semiconductor assembling jobs and in the hospitality sector.

o Casualisation or informalisation of work force leading to low wages for labourers and less job security.

o Reduction in pensions and other forms of social support for the elderly.

o Huge gaps between the incomes of the dominant racial groups and the minority racial groups/immigrants particularly in western countries.

♤ In conclusion, it can be argued that globalisation has neither led to the eradication off social inequalities, nor led to its transformation. Rather, globalisation has led to a situation where a socially deprived person is more and more likely to be economically deprived too.