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CRITICALLY EXAMINE THE SOCIAL INTEGRATION IN OUR SOCIETY DISCUSS

1. Concepts and definitions

Social integration

Social integration is defined as the process of promoting the values, relations and institutions that
enable all people to participate in social, economic and political life on the basis of equality of rights,
equity and dignity. This definition excludes process of social integration based on force or that attempt
to impose unitary identities on reluctant populations. Promoting social integration requires attention to
three different, but inter-linked, processes that shape the extent to which people are able to live and
work together on an equal basis:

Recognition of diverse social groups, cultures and identity in order to promote respect, dignity and co-
operation.

Representation of political voice in order to ensure that the interests of different groups are taken into
account in decision-making and resource allocation.

Redistribution of socio-economic resources between individuals and groups in order to prevent deep
disparities and fragmentation on the basis of wealth, ethnicity, region, gender, age or other social
identity.

Social justice

Social justice, the creation of a society for all, is the over-arching goal of social integration. Social justice
refers to the principles, values and institutions that need to be in place to enable each person to get a
fair share of the benefits, and carry a fair share of the responsibilities, of living together in a community
(Miller 2005). Concepts of social justice differ from understandings of poverty because they focus on
issues of distribution and process rather than absolute levels of well-being. While debates about what
constitutes social justice have a long and unresolved history in political philosophy, all definitions
assume that a fair society is desirable and only achievable if rights and responsibilities are distributed

according to agreed principles of equality. Here, as indicated in the definition of social integration, social
justice is defined as the achievement of a society in which all people are able to participate in social,
economic and political life on the basis of equality of rights and opportunity, equity and dignity.

Human rights

Human rights are the internationally agreed norms and legal standards that set out the rights and
entitlements belonging to all individuals and specific groups with the corresponding obligations of
governments and other individuals and organizations to fulfill those rights. The human rights framework
incorporates the economic, civil, cultural, political and social rights identified in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent conventions as well as ILO conventions covering core
labour standards and rights of indigenous people. Conventions, including the Convention on the Rights
of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women and the

Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, outline how the application of
universal rights should be applied to take into account issues of difference between particular social
groups. Human rights, then, relate to the range of economic, social, cultural, civil and

political needs that are generally understood as being relevant to a multidimensional understanding of
poverty. In defining these needs as rights, the human rights framework enables individuals and groups
to make a claim on dutybearers who have an obligation to fulfill that right. In an increasing number of

cases, those claims are being made by civil society through judicial processes or through quasi-judicial
accountability mechanisms (Gauri and Brinks 2008).

Where those channels are not accessible to people who are disadvantaged, the human rights framework
still provides a normative basis for formulating claims and mobilizing around them. Human rights create
a link between people's needs and the political processes and levers necessary to ensure that policies
and resources are in place to meet those needs (Ferguson, Moser and Norton 2007).

Minority Rights

Minority rights refer to public policies, legal rights, and constitutional provisions sought by ethnic groups
for the accommodations of their cultural differences. Minority rights are protected under international
human rights law by provisions for religious and cultural freedoms as well as by specific conventions
relating to minority rights, such as ILO Convention 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. The
term minorities is used to refer to a wide range of groups including:

A. National minorities

Stateless nations

Indigenous peoples

B. Immigrant minorities

With citizenship or rights to become citizens

Without rights to become citizens

Refugees

C. Religious groups

Isolationist

Non-isolationist

D. Sui generis groups

African Americans

Roma (gypsies) etc… (Kymlicka and Norman 2000).

Citizenship

Theories of citizenship look at ideas and practices relating to rights, status, values, identity and activities
that are attached to membership of political communities. Country specific legal, political and
administrative systems result in inequalities in the legal recognition and realization of citizenship. The
concept of citizenship is used to analyze those differences and to assess, for example, the extent to
which human rights standards are incorporated and addressed by different states.

Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism has become the accepted European model for addressing cultural and ethnic
differences, but is relatively new to development debates (Marc 2008). Multiculturalism promotes the
rights of minority groups defined by their culture and ethnicity. It is associated with the idea of
celebrating diversity (Percival 2007). Multiculturalism preserves a central core of common human

rights valid to all citizens but complements these with specific rights for minority groups (Marc 2008).

Equality and difference

As defined above, equality is intrinsic to approaches to social integration. However, the concept of
equality is open to a number of different interpretations. Definitions of equality vary in the extent to
which they take into account issues of difference between social groups. The classic liberal concept of
justice defines equality in relation to the concept of difference-blind rules and institutions which applied
the same rules to all people, regardless of their identity. However, feminist theorists and advocates of
minority and other group rights have demonstrated that difference-blind rules are not neutral.
Difference-blind nondiscrimination favours the majority because it fails to take into account existing

differences and disparities between social groups (Kymlicka and Norman 2000). Current definitions of
equality, then, are the product of attempts to grapple with the equality/difference conundrum.

Disparities in outcomes

The default meaning of equality relates to disparities in outcomes. The economic definition of inequality
usually refers to inequalities in income and wealth. However, descriptions of disparities may also include
dimensions of social and economic well-being, such as health and education. Achieving equality in terms

of eradicating disparities in income, wealth and other socio-economic outcomes is generally not seen as
either a desirable or achievable goal. Other definitions of equality, then, have evolved to describe a
range of normative objectives in relation to disparity.

Horizontal and vertical inequalities

Disparities, or outcome inequalities, are increasingly debated in terms of vertical and horizontal
inequalities. Standard definitions of inequality refer to disparities measured between individuals and
households ordered in a vertical line from richest to poorest. While vertical inequality refers to
disparities in well-being, it is most commonly expressed in terms of income or wealth. Horizontal
inequality describes disparities between culturally defined groups and is most often expressed in
multidimensional terms, with political, social and economic elements (Stewart 2002).
There are important differences in which groups are included in discussions about horizontal inequality
and which are left out. The definition could include groups that are defined on the basis of their socio-
economic position, ie groups identified in terms of class, employment status or even 'the poor' (Stewart
2002). However, most definitions do not include these groups and refer only to identity groups based
on, for example, gender, race, ethnicity and HIV/AIDS status. Under this definition, discussions of
horizontal inequalities do not include everyone who is income-poor (and also include those people who
belong to a disadvantaged social category but are not income poor).

Equality of rights

This term is often used to mean equality of civil and political rights (UNDESA 2006). From a human rights
perspective, this definition is inadequate. The Vienna Conference on Human Rights asserted the equal
status of economic, social and cultural rights with civil and political rights. It helped to interpret the

human rights principle of indivisibility, and the related principles of interdependence and
interrelatedness, as meaning that the international community must treat human rights globally in a fair
and equal manner, on the same footing, and with the same emphasis (UN 1993). Equality of rights, from
a human rights perspective, means equality of all rights. Moreover, a human rights definition of equality
of rights incorporates both formal and substantive equality. Formal equality prohibits the use of
distinctions, or discrimination, in law and policy. Substantive equality considers laws and policies

discriminatory if they have a disproportionate negative impact on any group of people (Elson 2006). For
example, a tax on bread, from a human rights perspective, is discriminatory because it would have a
disproportionate impact on the poorest people who spend a larger percentage of their income on staple

foods than those who have more income.

Equality of opportunity

Equality of opportunity is the preferred goal of mainstream development organizations. It is often

defined in terms of the metaphor of the creation of a level-playing field. Writing about citizenship and
social class in Britain in the 1950s, T.H. Marshall describes equality of opportunity as the right of the
citizen to enter into employment on a basis of equality, without the influence of hereditary privilege, in
order to engage in processes of market selection, capital accumulation and social mobility (Marshall and
Bottomore 1992). Since the 1950s, the concept of equality of opportunity has been elevated while the
value of concrete interventions to support it has been eroded. The World Bank defines equality of
opportunity as enabling individuals "to pursue a life of their choosing" (World Bank 2006: 2). Sen's work
highlights the problem with this definition. Sen argues that what people choose or want is, itself, limited
by their experience and the opportunities available to them. The capabilities approach aims to address
this by looking at the choices people would make if they were able to make choices without restriction
(Sen 1999). Appadurai argues that in order to make choices, people have to have the capacity to aspire,
to visualize the future and mark out a path for achieving it. People who are poor have less practice at
this and, consequently, less capacity to aspire (Appadurai 2002). In practice, changes in labour markets
as a consequence of globalization have meant that policies to promote equality of opportunity do not
support Marshall's goal of social mobility let alone a life of people's choosing. Equality of opportunity
is generally associated with state action through public policies, particularly in health, education and
housing, to offset inequalities separating individuals from different socio-cultural backgrounds (UNDESA
2006). The assumption is that the provision of an initial bundle of minimum services is sufficient to
ensure a degree of life-time equality in relation to livelihood opportunities. While this assumption may
have had some relevance in 1950s Britain of long-term employment paths, it is not sufficient in labour
markets where employment for the majority is short-term, insecure, and employers have no incentive to
support training or ensure any form of progression (Haagh 2007). Equality of opportunity has to be
redefined to make the concept and practice meaningful to the operation of globalized labour markets.
Here it is defined as equality of opportunity to enter, and remain in, decent work. Equality of
opportunity consequently requires action to support acquisition of skills over a life-time as well as
policies to promote decent employment and ensure respect for core labour standards.

Equity

Equity is a concept which refers to a contextually determined 'acceptable' range of disparities, or

outcomes, in terms of income, wealth and other aspects of life in society (UNDESA 2006). The concept is
used as a means of signaling that while equality of outcomes is not desirable, some levels of inequality in
outcomes are not acceptable. However, the definition of "acceptable" is open to a wide range of
interpretations. The World Bank, for example, defines equity as equality of opportunity and being
"spared from extreme deprivations in outcomes". The idea that it is only the most extreme deprivations
of outcome that are unacceptable provides a minimal understanding of equity. Human rights advocates
criticize the term equity precisely because it is so open to different interpretations. Nonetheless, it
embodies ideas about fairness of distribution that go beyond issues of non-discrimination. It allows for
the fact that different social arrangements and values that shape, for example, taxation and public
spending, can produce a range of distributional outcomes. While these different arrangements may not
necessarily be discriminatory, they can be distinguished in terms of the different levels of disparities
they produce. Equity is used here, then, as a term that denotes distributional fairness beyond issues of

non-discrimination. It complements, rather than replaces, the human rights definition of equality of
rights. Social capital Social capital refers to the rules, norms, obligations, reciprocity and trust embedded
in the social relations, social structures and societies' institutional arrangements that enable its embers
to achieve their individual and community objectives (Narayan cited in Moser and Clark 2001). The
concept has been thoroughly criticized because the term capital is not an appropriate way of

describing social relations and implies that the links between people can be stored up or spent like
money. It has become discredited by reductionist attempts to equate social development with the
number of organizations in a given community. Yet it embodies a set of ideas about the values and
bonds which shape the relations between people that are not adequately captured by other

concepts or readily addressed in mainstream social policy. Building social capital, in this sense, is integral
to the process of social integration and implies those processes, including network building, that
promote relations of trust rather than fear and loathing, and enable conflicts of interest to be resolved
without violence.

Solidarity
Solidarity refers the idea that we are bound together as citizens by a willingness to support each other in
times of hardship. The concept of solidarity is often linked to debates about the willingness of people to
contribute to social welfare through higher levels of taxation. Motivations for solidarity can be
instrumental, arising from a view that unequal societies do not function effectively, or ethical, arising
from a view that inequalities are morally unacceptable. Processes of social integration depend upon the
existence of values of solidarity which encourage individuals to support the actions necessary to allow
some degree of redistribution of resources. Without solidarity, governments cannot address the
dilemma of providing for those in need while securing the compliance of those with wealth.

Social exclusion and disadvantage

The concept of social exclusion derives from European policy debates about immigration and
unemployment. It describes "the process through which individuals or groups are wholly or partially
excluded from the society in which they live" (Hickey and du Toit 2007). Analyses of social exclusion tend
to focus on groups that are discriminated against on the basis of their social identity and do not always
address disadvantage on the basis of class or other identities associated with employment status (DFID
2005). The concept has been criticized because it fails to capture the relations of power through which
individuals are bound in kinship networks and communities as well as in patron-client, employer-
employee and other unequal relations (du Toit 2005). Feminist analysis has long recognized that women
have not been totally excluded from engagement with society, but have generally been incorporated

on a differential basis as mothers and subordinates (Pateman 1992). While theories of social exclusion
address this issue through the concept of adverse incorporation, the terms disadvantaged or
discriminated-against are used here to capture the unequal relations that drive impoverishment and
disempowerment. The terms inclusive states and inclusive citizenship are used to describe institutions
that are based on principles of non-discrimination and equality of rights.

2. Why does social integration matter? Poverty, employment and conflict

There are both intrinsic and instrumental reasons for promoting social integration. From an ethical
standpoint, the creation of a society for all is a self-evident goal in itself. But there are also strong
instrumental reasons for promoting social integration. Deep disparities, based on wealth, region,
gender, age or ethnicity reduce social mobility. This, in turn, leads to de facto fragmentation of society

and has negative impacts on growth, poverty reduction, democracy and conflict avoidance (Watkins
2007).

2.1 Poverty

Vertical and horizontal inequalities are bad for poverty reduction. The impact of the same amount of
growth on poverty reduction is significantly greater when initial income inequality is lower (World BanK
2006). Latin America would have half as many people living in poverty today if it had enjoyed East Asia's
more equal distribution of assets in the 1960s (DFID 2005). Horizontal inequalities also make poverty
reduction more difficult. Horizonal disparities are linked to the cultural devaluation of particular social
groups. Culturally defined, or social, groups may emerge from self-identification, legislation or as a result
of categorization by others (Stewart 2007). Social identities are overlapping and individuals may choose
to recognize, or may be categorized by others in, a number of different groups. Cultural devaluation of
specific identities is rooted in social patterns of representation and communication which can be hard to
identify, acknowledge and unpick (Fraser 1997). Cultural devaluation leads to discrimination and

inequality when negative ideas about groups become institutionalized, or embedded in accepted social,
political and economic norms, official practices, policies and legislation. These institutionalized systems
of rules and norms, or rights regimes, allocate different and unequal rights to particular social groups.

(Moser and Norton 2001).

Identity, and the values and rights associated with it, is the link between structure and agency. Unequal
rights regimes impact on agency, not only in terms of the structural constraints to action and choices,
but in terms of internalization of negative social values about identities, which can lead to a loss of
confidence, self-esteem and ambition and any sense of entitlement to fair treatment. Institutionalized
inequalities in rights and responsibilities mean that individuals from particular social groups are more
likely to be poor. Groups that are discriminated against, either in legislation and policies or through
service provider practices and self-exclusion, are unable to access services and resources on the

same terms as others. This leaves them disadvantaged in relation to economic opportunities and
consequent income. Gender discrimination is the most pervasive and prevalent form of institutionalized
inequality. Gender cuts across all other social categories and is a marker of identity and inequalities
between men and women in all societies. Gender discrimination in national and customary laws
prevents women from owning and inheriting property, accessing credit in their own name or making

decisions about their own sexuality, fertility and health. Norms about the gendered division of labour
and gender roles result in women undertaking a disproportionate amount of unpaid, unrecognized
household labour. Gender norms also mean that, in many societies, parents are less likely to invest in
girls' nutrition, health or education. The relevance of other social categories, and the links between
those identities and disparities, varies between different societies. In Latin America and the Caribbean
increasing attention is being paid to issues of race and ethnicity, as indigenous people and Afro-
descendants are the poorest in the region. The difference in poverty incidence between ethnic and
racial minorities and the rest of the population varies from being 1.6 times higher in Colombia to 7.9
times higher in Paraguay. Although the threshold of educational achievement has risen in indigenous
and non-indigenous populations in the region, the gap between these two groups persists in most
countries. These disparities are reflected in higher illiteracy rates. In Brazil, in the early 1990s, illiteracy
rates for the black population were more than double those of the white population, reaching three
times the whites' illiteracy rates for people aged 15-24 (Hopenhayn 2008).

In South Asia, issues of caste as well as ethnicity have been highlighted. In Nepal, the poverty headcount
dropped 11 points between 1996 and 2004, from 42 percent to 31 percent. Poverty has dropped across
regions, quintiles, rural and urban populations and caste and ethnic groups. However, there are major

differences by caste and ethnic group. The result is a caste penalty: per capita household consumption in
Brahaman and Chhetri households is 42 percent higher than in Dalit households. Controlling for
differences in background variables, including location, education, occupation, dependency ratio,

alndholdings and remittance income, still leaves per capita income 15 percent lower in Dalit households
than in Brahmin and Chhetri households. Muslim and Janajati households face penalties of 13 percent
and 14 percent respectively (Bennett 2008). In Sub Saharan Africa, while disparities on the basis of race
and ethnicity continue to be relevant, HIV/AIDS has led to new forms of stigma and discrimination which
have overlapped with inequalities based on gender and age. In Uganda, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has
caused over 800,000 estimated deaths and created over two million single or double-parent orphans.
Approximately 25 percent of Ugandan households now include one or more orphans. Many of

these are elderly or widow-headed households, with the burden of care tending to fall on women.
Orphans who are not located in extended families or supportive communities often become street
children, surviving by begging or petty crime. The ability of these children, and the people who are trying
to support them, to ensure their livelihood is hampered by negative perceptions about HIV/AIDS as

well as stereotypes about age and gender (Sabates-Wheeler and Devereux 2008).

World-wide, life-cycle identities and disparities cut across other inequalities and deepen them through
transmission of poverty across generations, leading to low social mobility among disadvantaged groups.
The UK Children's Commissioner's Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child shows that
child poverty is a major issue across the United Kingdom, with 3.8 million children (one in three) living in
relative poverty. Groups of children at greatest risk of poverty are those from black and minority ethnic
families, those in large families, lone parent families, children with disabilities and with disabled parents,
Gypsy and Traveller children, children leaving care and asylum seekers. It is these groups which are,

in turn, more likely to face inequalities in access to education and formal exclusions from school,
decreasing their chances of finding secure or well-paid employment. Institutionalized inequalities
support and are perpetuated by unequal power relations between social elites and people from
culturally devalued groups. People living in poverty are often described as lacking in social networks and

capital. In reality, people who are poor are not disconnected from social relationships and networks, but
are connected to them through relations of abuse or exploitation (du Toit and Neves 2007). Within the
household, gender violence and abuse of older people and children is common. In many societies, it is
seen as the husbands right to hit or beat their wife. Outside the household, poor people are often
locked into patron-client relations and other forms of exploitation and abuse. New forms of dependency
relations are emerging as patterns of production break down ties based on agriculture and access to
land. In poor urban areas of India, it is increasingly common for brokers (mastaans) to manage shelter
and key services, charging rents for water, electricity or protection. These patrons also mediate the links
to jobs for captive networks of migrants and urban poor. The goal, for many poor people, is autonomy
and escaping from these binding and oppressive social relations (Mosse 2007). Lack of power and
control over immediate social relations is manifested in the political sphere through lack of voice and
authority in decision-making processes. People from discriminated against groups and those who live in
poverty over extended periods of time are the least likely to gain political representation and have few
immediate allies in either civil or political society (Hickey and Bracking 2005). In some contexts, political
processes replicate broader processes of domination, allowing existing elites to set the agenda and
make decisions that further their own interests. These processes block or subvert democratic politics

because they give members of dominant elites both the incentive and the means to evade the demands
of disadvantaged groups and results of participatory consultation processes when those outcomes
counter their interests (Tilly 2007).
Political processes and policy implementation at all levels then reinforce and replicate existing power
relations and inequalities. Social and political mobilization provides the key lever for pushing the
interests of the poor onto national political agendas. Members of some socially devalued groups have
been able to transform their negative label into a positive affirmation of their identification as the basis
for a politics of the recognition of their own difference (Young 1990). Identity group mobilization has, to
a certain extent, overshadowed organization around, and attention to, issues of class (UNDESA 2006).
The poorest, however, are neither a class nor an identity grouping and do not easily gain representation
within either old or new social movements (Hickey and Bracking 2005).

2.2 Employment

Inequalities and discrimination that impact on access to services also effect the operation of labour
markets. While individuals from disadvantaged groups are less likely to have the recognized
qualifications and experience required to secure better paid employment, discrimination also shapes the
operation of labour markets and practices of hiring employees as well as determining access to credit for
microenterprises (UNDESA 2005). Social norms shape employers' perceptions and they may
unquestioningly assume that women, migrant workers, people from minority groups, people with
disabilities or older persons and children should be in the lowest paid, most insecure positions (Mosse
2007).

Discrimination, in turn, impacts on efficiency and growth. Discrimination and horizontal disparities mean
that talented people will be held back while resources and high positions go to less talented people in
advantaged groups (Stewart 2006).

Labour markets and paid work are widely recognized as central mechanism through which the working
poor contribute to, and benefit from economic growth Movement out of poverty tends to be associated
with changes in employment status or rewards. However, improvements in labour market position do
not necessarily spell a permanent escape from poverty with people frequently moving out of poverty
when they are employed and then being pulled back in a 'rubber band' trajectory (Lister 2004).

These constrictions in movement out of poverty are linked, in part, to the changing nature of
employment as the result of globalization of production and markets. While globalization has led to
rising levels of labour force participation, it has also meant that the majority of the workforce in
developing counties is found in informal, part-time, irregular unstable and badly-paid forms of work

without any form of social insurance or benefits (Kabeer 2008; Cook, Heintz and Kabeer 2008).

Increased labour force participation has come at the cost of increasing vulnerability.

The size of the informal economy has grown worldwide, particularly in developing

regions with low economic growth rates. Informal work currently makes up between half and three-
quarters of employment in the non-agricultural sector in developing and transition countries. In 2000, it
accounted for around 51 per cent of employment in Latin America, 65 per cent in Asia and 72 per cent in
subSaharan Africa (ILO 2000 cited in Kabeer 2008). The informal economy is sometimes characterized as
a persisting pre-capitalist form of production or the product of resistance to capitalist markets and
formal labour. In reality, the informal economy in many societies consists of small firms or individuals
tied into larger, formal sector producers through processes of outsourcing and homeworking (Mosse
2007).

The operation of markets in the mainstream economy is, in many societies, increasing both vertical and
horizontal inequalities. In contradiction to the predictions of neoclassical theory, labour force
participation has increased while average real earnings have fallen suggesting that faced with lower
earnings, household members have to increase their labour supply in order to make ends meet (Heintz
2008). In some contexts, this has meant the greater involvement of children as well as women in work
and, in most societies, the greater dependence on female labour for survival.Official statistics show a
steady rise in female labour force participation rates in recent decades in almost every region of the
world. While women have increased their share of the world's labour force and are more evenly
distributed across sectors than they were in the past, gender hierarchies in the labour market have

proved resilient. Women continue to be crowded into a far more limited range of occupations than men
in both advanced industrial and developing countries. Women are still likely to earn less than their male
counterparts in both the formal and informal economies. Women do not monopolize the worst paid
jobs in the economy, but they are over-represented in them. Moreover, the gender division of domestic
labour has also persisted. This has meant that even though women have taken up a larger share of
breadwinning responsibilities, men have not increased their share of domestic responsibilities, leaving
women working longer hours both inside and outside the household (Kabeer 2008).

Discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity impacts on labor markets, employment rates and
income. In Brazil, for example, the percentage of Afrodescendant workers in precarious employment
was much higher than that of white workers for every year from 1992 to 2001. In Bolivia, indigenous
workers account for 67 percent of precarious jobs and 28 percent of semi-skilled jobs. Only 4 percent of
indigenous workers are employed in jobs that require greater skills (Hopenhayn 2008).

In South Africa, control of industry remains largely concentrated in the hands of a small, white elite. The
fruit industry, for example, has seen an uneven but significant trend towards casualization and
externalization. Black workers who used to live on the farms are now living in towns and combining
casual, seasonal labour on fruit farms with the search for other forms of urban employment.

Increased insecurity of income and need for credit makes them vulnerable to further exploitation by
gangsters, labour brokers and credit racketeers (du Toit 2005). Migrant workers are particularly
vulnerable. They may be isolated by their language and culture. Even where they have legal status, their
access to services and support may be limited. Non-legal migrant workers face the additional
insecurities of their status. Youth account for a quarter of the world's working-age population, but
almost half of its unemployed. Across all countries, the unemployment rate is two to three

times higher for young people than for adults. Their limited experience and skills, as well as stereotypes
about their suitability for employment, make it hard for youth to enter the labour market. This, in turn,
means that young people are unable to acquire on-the-job skills and the experience necessary to obtain
work (Green 2008). These patterns of inequality and insecurity are also apparent in employment in

advanced industrialized countries. In the UK, one in five workers, in particular agency workers, migrant
workers, informal workers and home workers, is estimated to be in a 'vulnerable' situation and denied
basic employment rights. Pakistani, Bangladeshi and African-Caribbean women are particularly likely to
experience unemployment, low pay and poorer promotion prospects (Carpenter and Speeden 2007).

2.3 Conflict

Conflict and struggle are part and parcel of everyday social and political relations. Conflict can be good
when it leads to more equal redistribution of resources and power. Conflict is harmful when it involves
violence or other forms of mental and physical abuse. In some countries, such as South Africa, violent
conflict has been necessary to overthrow violence-based regimes. Forms of violence include:

• social violence - gender violence, sexual abuse, child abuse and intergenerational conflict

• community social and economic violence- gangs, street children and ethnic violence

• economic violence - organized crime, delinquents, robbers

• institutional violence - violence of state and other informal institutions

• political violence - state an non-state violence (Moser 2004). A society characterized by extreme
disparities in income and well-being and lack of opportunities can be marked by increases in inter-
personal violence, crime and ultimately inter-group violent conflicts. There is no simple causal
relationship between poverty, inequality and violent crime. However, there is evidence to

suggest a correlation between crime levels and inequality, particularly during periods of economic
volatility and recession (UNDESA 2006). People from disadvantaged groups or areas are more likely to
experience violence and violent crime. In the United Kingdom, those living in economically deprived
areas report a significantly higher level of fear of crime, including racial harassment and vandalism, than
those in more affluent areas. Twice as many Asians and black people as whites say that they are afraid of
becoming victims of violent crime. Women are more likely to experience inter-personal violence than

men and very much more likely to be victims of sexual assault, including rape (Pearce and Paxton 2005).

Growing evidence from around the world has shown that a large proportion of women and girls are
subjected to violence by family members, acquaintances and strangers. Reports from a range of nations,
including Thailand, South Africa and New Zealand indicate that between 20 and 44 per cent of men
admit that they are violent towards their wives or intimate partners. Violence and the threat

of violence dramatically increase the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV by making it difficult of
impossible for women to abstain from sex, to get their partners to be faithful or to use a condom (Global
Coalition on Women and AIDS). Young people, particularly young men, are often the victims of violence.
Data from El Salvador, for example, indicates that a young man is ten times more likely to be murdered
than a young woman (Winton 2004). Young men, however, are also more likely to become perpetrators
of violence. When young people feel they have no place in society, poor future prospects and no real
voice in politics, they may turn to violence and crime as a way to make a living and to feel more

powerful. Territorial and identity-based gangs are common in Central America and Jamaica. The
presence and actions of youth gangs and gun crimes have created urban no-go zones in some countries
(DFID 2005). The increase in urban violence has, in turn, resulted in alarming, violent responses from the
police which include social cleansing and targeting groups of 'undesirables' such as suspected criminals,
youth gang members, street children and homosexuals (Winton 2004). Violent conflict is a major source
of poverty in the developing world. Overall GDP per capita typically falls during a conflict. The shifting
nature of conflict has meant that the costs of conflict are disproportionately borne by the poor and

disadvantaged. Most conflicts today do not occur between sovereign state but are internalized or
regional. At the beginning of the twentieth century, 90 per cent of the casualties of conflict were
combatants. The majority of casualties are now inflicted on civilians. Violent conflict has fuelled a rapid
rise in the global numbers of refugees and internally displaced from 22 million in 1985 to current levels
of around 40 million (Goodhand 2003). In addition to the direct costs of conflict in terms of fatalities,
injuries and displacement, indirect costs, such as the destruction of infrastructure, rising costs of basic
foods and degradation of agricultural land, are more likely to affect the poor sections of the population

(Brown 2006). There is no simple reverse causal link between poverty, vertical inequality and violent
conflict. Poor countries are clearly at greater risk of falling into no-exit cycles of violent conflict. More
than half the countries in Africa are affected by conflict (Goodhand 2003). However, there is
contradictory evidence on the link between vertical inequality and the likelihood of conflict (Brown
2006).

Ethnic, racial and other group differences have been a cause of conflict in numerous countries including
Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Evidence from a range of countries, including Cote D'Ivoire,
Indonesia and Nepal, suggests that the causes of these conflicts can be linked to horizontal inequalities
in income and well-being. Inter-group disparities provide powerful grievances that leaders

can use to mobilize people to political protest (Stewart 2006). In Indonesia, district-level analysis found a
strong link between horizontal inequalities and communal conflict to be in terms of infant mortality - a
reflection of broader health and well-being disparities. Inequalities in the distribution of land

are a common cause of conflict. In Northern Ireland, Catholic-Protestant disparities in housing and
educational standards were a catalyst for conflict (Brown 2006). Where individuals from, or
organizations representing, disadvantaged groups have no chance of gaining influence in existing
political systems, they may resort to violent methods and experience violent repression.

In these contexts, horizontal inequalities may exacerbate the risk of civil conflict (Stewart 2007).

Where horizontal inequalities are high, action to redress those disparities can also be an inflammatory
process. In Sri Lanka, political disputes over policies to improve Sinhalese educational performance in
relation to the Tamil minority were one of the major factors in the emergence of the Tamil rebellion.
(Brown 2006). Approaches to addressing disparities, then, can also create and deepen structural
inequalities, poverty and conflict if they are not handled in a sensitive and even-handed way.