This document discusses the concept of poverty and the origins of social inequality. It explains that early hunter-gatherer societies were generally egalitarian, with no social classes or private property. The development of agriculture led to some people controlling surpluses and land, creating stratified societies with social hierarchies and inequality. It provides examples of stratified systems including feudalism and the Indian caste system, which divides people by birth into hierarchical groups with unequal access to resources and power.

1. ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What
is poverty?
KEY CONCEPTS:
KEY CONCEPTS:
• Social Inequality:
• Poverty:
• Hunters & Gatherers:
• Egalitarian Society vs. Stratified Society:

2. What is
POVERTY?
•Think-Pair-Share
2

3. “Lack of money”
• Give a nomadic desert
tribesman a million dollars.
What will he do with it?
•What is money used for?
3

4. 4
IS THERE
ANYTHING
MORE
IMPORTANT FOR
PEOPLE THAN
MONEY?

5. The HAVES and the
HAVE-NOTS
• Why do some have more than others?
• Has it always been this way?
• THINK - PAIR - SHARE
5

6. HAS IT ALWAYS BEEN THIS
WAY?
• Have humans ALWAYS had
this division between the
HAVES and HAVE-NOTS?
• THINK - PAIR - SHARE
6

7. What is “Egalitarian”?
• Idea that all people are equal and
deserve equal rights and
opportunities. 7

8. • Humans used to live in
societies where people were
more equal 8

9. EGALITARIAN SOCIETY
• a society where everybody is equal. No rich
or poor.
9

10. Egalitarian societies
 Hunter & Gatherers:
Nomadic people who
obtain food from wild
plants and animals. They
have few possessions and
no land ownership
 No rulers or superiors
Everybody equal!

11. NOMADS
• Only own what you can carry!
11

12. Sure, some people had special skills
like a really good hunter, but they
weren’t looked at as being “superior”
than others
Leaders have influence, but no
authority like a king
The people share everything

13. These cultures had no land ownership so
there were no social classes.
Can you have inequality if nobody owns
anything?

14. So what happened to create
inequality?
AGRICULTURE!
AGRICULTURE!
• surplus from planting
crops allows some to
control this surplus
• Those in control can
decide who gets food!
• These are the first
social classes

15. With FARMS, people settled on
a piece of land and STAYED
there. So, they felt it was THEIR
land!
• OWNERSHIP LEADS TO
INEQUALITY...
• WHY?
15

16. Agricultural Societies
• This is when the idea
of private property
and slavery were
invented.
This is MY land. You HAVE TO work for me.
You HAVE TO pay me taxes to farm MY land!

17. This is where Social
Inequality is born

18. "...all animals are equal here, but
some are more equal than others."
[G,Orwell, Animal Farm]

19. EXAMPLES?
•What are some examples of
social inequality you have
seen in the last week?
• THINK - PAIR - SHARE
19

20. ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
•What does a
stratified
society look
like? 20

21. KEY CONCEPTS:
•Stratified Society:
•Caste System:
•Untouchable: 21

22. What does stratified
22
mean?

23. Strata: a layer that is different
than the others
• Stratified rock 23

24. Stratified Societies
society where people are
divided into groups; some
have higher status than
others
some people like chiefs inherited
this special status from their fathers
and grandfathers
They have more food and can
reward people that are close to them,
like family, friends and allies

25. 25
Stratified society
• Some people (or groups of people) have unequal
access to power and/or resources, while other
people (or groups) have less.

26. FEUDALISM
26

27. PROS of Stratified Society
In stratified societies,
they can organize people
to work together on big
projects like making
roads, waterways or
temples.
Society can act
together to defend
themselves

28. CONS of Stratified
28
Slavery Society
People treated badly because of their
background
Not in their control.
NOT THEIR fault!

29. PEOPLE ARE DEALT THEIR
FATE WHEN THEY ARE BORN
29

30. Caste
What is Caste?

31. Caste System
People are born into different groups
called “castes” and cannot change from one
to another
Higher ranked castes get better jobs and
have better lifsetyles; lower castes can only
do certain jobs
 Caste is the fundamental social
institution in India
Lower castes are seen as impure.
 Caste organises political, economic and ritual life

32. Has existed among Hindus for at least 2,000 years
 Some believe that the caste system was originally based upon color
lines between the conquering Aryans and the darker, native
Dravidians.
The first three castes may have originated with the classes of Aryan
society who used the darker, native population as their servants.

33. The invading white skinned
Aryans referred to the
conquered Indians as "Dasyu"
- the "dark ones" or slaves.
the Vedas (Hindu holy
books like Qu’ran) are full of
stories of war between the
white Aryans and dark Dasyu
The upper castes are STILL
lighter-skinned than the lower
castes, 2,000 years later!
Indian actress
Preety Zinta
Indian actor Aamir
Khanall

34.  the four varnas are ranked in
descending order of importance, prestige,
and purity.
Brahmin (priests) scholars, philosophers
- rewarded with honor
Kshatriya (warriors), rulers
administrators and organizers - rewarded
with power
Vaishya (The People) merchants,
farmers, traders, artisans, engineers -
rewarded with wealth
Shudra. (servants) servants, hired hands,
unskilled laborers, factory workers,
manual laborers - rewarded with freedom
from responsibility
Untouchables, also known as
Harijans or Dalits, fall outside
of the caste system all together.

35. A Maithil Brahman
from a rural village
north of Darbhanga
Brahmins deserve respect
from everyone else and are
considered so pure that they
may never eat food prepared
by anyone but another
Brahmin.
This means that Brahmins
cannot go to a restaurant
where the staff are not also
Brahmins
Brahmin priests at the
annual changing of the
sacred thread.
Brahmin
Brahmins are seen as
mediators between the human
and divine worlds

36. Kshatriya
The Kshatriya are members of the warrior varna. Their
lifetime goal is to serve as protector to their people.
Rajput Landowner and his family on their land
Smoking a hooka, or water pipe.
Historically, The
Kshatriya has
contained most of
the political leaders
and kings,
landowners

37. Vaishya
The Fruit Merchant
(Paan Wallah) the Paan Maker
Paan is a like chewing tobacco although
made from betelnut and paan leaves. It
stains your teeth orange.
landless group of
merchants, shopkeepers
and artisans.
Most closely resembles
the middle class

38. Shudra
The Shudra caste performs services – the
hard work and labor
Their specific service is a birthright
This varna, resembles the medieval
European peasant class.
A Nai or barber sets up shop on the side of
the road where anyone can come and get
their hair cut or face shaven. Their wives
are often midwives.
Mali, or
gardeners
Dhobi – Washermen They wash the
clothing for all the different caste
levels. the local Dhobis wash the
clothes of their patrons, and then lay
them out in to dry.

39. Harijans or Dalits (untouchables)
They are called
"untouchables" because
they are forbidden to touch
anyone who belongs to one
of the four varnas.
In India musicians are Harijans
(god's children)
The act of playing some of these
instruments is considered to be
unclean because the saliva that is
being blown into the horns is
thought to be very unhygenic,
therefore not fit for people in
higher castes to play these
instruments.

40. 40
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

41. 
If a Brahmin priest touches an
untouchable, he or she must go through a
ritual in which the pollution is washed
away.
 Untouchables do all the most
unpleasant work in South Asia.
Hindus think that a person is born to this
class because of bad karma he or she earned
in a pervious life.

42. In northern India, untouchables were forced to use
drums to announce their arrival
even their shadows were thought to be polluting.
In the south, some Brahmins stipulated that the lower
castes would have to maintain a distance of 22 metres
from them in order not to contaminate others of higher
castes

43. Ideology
Hindus did not question the caste system.
“It’s simply the way the universe works.”
In order to be assured of a good life in one's
next reincarnation, a person must do
everything he or she can to live up to the
expectations of his or her caste
•A Sudra should work hard;
•a Brahmin should study religious texts and pray hard.
A particular caste position is a reward or
punishment for the deeds and misdeeds of past
lives justifies one's position in this life.
Thus one's caste position is something that is
earned
The scheme is
sanctioned in
religious text from
1500 BC

44. Changing Significance of Caste
 The ritual and religious basis of caste has weakened
greatly,
 system of purity and pollution which ranked castes
relative to one another and kept them separate is in
decline
 Most Hindus are still opposed to intercaste marriage
although intercaste marriage is on the rise
Other criteria becoming important for example,
education, occupation, and income

45. Review: Stratified Societies
• WHAT WERE THE 3 EXAMPLES?
• First there were two from history
45

46. • ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How did
European colonialism lead to more
inequality?
• KEY CONCEPTS:
• Colonialism:
• Mestizo:
46

47. 47
Stratified society
• Some people (or groups of people) have unequal
access to power and/or resources, while other
people (or groups) have less.

48. FEUDALISM
48

49.  the four varnas are ranked in
descending order of importance, prestige,
and purity.
Brahmin (priests) scholars, philosophers
- rewarded with honor
Kshatriya (warriors), rulers
administrators and organizers - rewarded
with power
Vaishya (The People) merchants,
farmers, traders, artisans, engineers -
rewarded with wealth
Shudra. (servants) servants, hired hands,
unskilled laborers, factory workers,
manual laborers - rewarded with freedom
from responsibility
Untouchables, also known as
Harijans or Dalits, fall outside
of the caste system all together.

50. In the Americas, before the Europeans
50
arrived, there were complex
civilizations like the Maya

51. 5511

52. 52
And the Aztecs

53. So Inequality was a Part of their Society
BUT, WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE
53
EUROPEANS ARRIVED?

54. What is COLONIALISM?
• The practice of acquiring
political control over
another country,
occupying it with settlers,
and making money off of
the land

55. SPAIN and the NEW WORLD
• The Spanish took
control over most of
South and Central
America
• There were only a
small number of
Spanish people but
they took control of
almost all of the
land.

56. ENCOMIENDA SYSTEM
• After stealing the land, the Spanish created
huge farms called Haciendas and forced the
local people to work for them.
56

57. 57
MINES
• They also built big mines so they could take
all of the gold, silver and precious metals
back to Spain

58. 58
ENSLAVED
• These people, who had been in control of
their own political life, their own trade and
their own land were enslaved by the
Spanish.

59. 59
MESTIZOS
• The Spanish needed people to help them rule the land and
they didn’t have enough Spanish women so they made
babies with the local Native American women instead.

60. MESTIZO
•A person of mixed
race, especially the
offspring of a
Spaniard and an
American Indian. 60

61. MESTIZOS WERE GIVEN
POWER
• These Mestizos were seen as being better than the
Native Americans because they had some Spanish
blood, so they were given land and power over the
rest of the people.

62. INDEPENDENCE FROM THE
SPANISH COLONIZERS!
• 200 years later many of these countries in
the Americas became independent.

63. BUT THE INEQUALITY
REMAINED
• The new leaders of the countries came from
mestizos and were lighter-skinned.
63

64. These new leaders controlled
all the resources and got very
64
rich.

65. But the poor local people got
65
poorer.

66. This inequality from Spanish
colonial times is still very real,
300 years later.
•Today, 1% of the
population of
Guatemala owns or
controls 65% of the
wealth

67. Most of them are still the light-skinned
67
Mestizos

68. INEQUALITY MATTERS!
• Once a system has been put
in place, it is very hard to
turn it around.
68

69. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
•How do we
measure poverty?
•What are the
effects of poverty? 69

70. KEY CONCEPTS:
•Poverty Line
•Life expectancy
•Poverty Cycle 70

71. POVERTY LINE
• The minimum amount of money
needed to purchase the basic
necessities of life.
• Those living under this line are in
poverty and those above are not in
poverty. There are different ways of
deciding where this poverty line is and
how to best measure it.

72. 72

73. How do we measure
poverty?
• One way is to measure how
much money people earn.
• The World Bank believes
that those earning less than
$1.25 (10 L.E.) per day live
in extreme poverty. 73

74. 74

75. • But each country has their own way of
measuring poverty. Some countries look at
how much of their money people need to
spend for their basic needs.
75

76. It’s not just money that counts!
• A 3rd - and more complete - way of
measuring whether someone is poor or not
involves looking at other factors besides
how much money they earn.
76

77. 77
Human Development Index
(HDI)
• Besides money, this
takes into account
2 other factors:
• 1. Life expectancy:
number of years an
average person lives in
that country

78. 78

79. • 2. Level of Education: How
many people have access to
schools?
79

80. How many people live in
80
poverty?
• Over one billion of the world’s population
(14%) on less than $1.25 (10 L.E.) per day.
• This is a huge number but it has been
reduced by almost one half in the last 35
years!

81. What are the effects of poverty?
• 1. On children: Many infants
born into poverty have a low
birth weight --> mental and
physical disabilities.
• Many are sickly and more
likely to die before their first
birthday.

82. • Children raised in poverty tend to miss school more
often because of illness and they also suffer from
conditions that can impair brain function.
• Lack of food and money also leads to a stressful
family life, which increases the chance of child
abuse
82

83. ELDERLY
• These are the hardest-hit. They often do not
have money to afford medicine. They often
do not have money for nutritious food,
warm clothes or decent houses. They worry
about not having money and becoming
homeless.
• Due to these reasons,
they often get stressed,
sick and die.

84. POVERTY CYCLE
iWn hpeonv eprotyo rf ofar mgeilnieesr abteiocnosm, eit itsra vpepreyd hard for them to get out of poverty.
aBcecceasuss eto t hcreityi chaal vrees noou rocre lsim, situecdh as income or schools,.
84

85. For example
• Poverty increases the chances
of poor health. Poor health in
turn traps communities in
poverty.
85

86. 86

87. What does Social Inequality Mean?
Different Access to
 Wealth
 Power
 Status
Opportunity

88. Different Access is Based on:
 Gender
 Race
 Age
 Ethnicity
 Religion
I.e. anything that can be used to differentiate people

89. INEQUALITY:
• Different access to wealth,
power, status and
opportunity based on gender,
race, age, ethnicity, social
class or religion
89

90. 90
DID YOU KNOW???
•The world’s 85
richest people are
as wealthy as the
poorest half of the
world combined!
(that’s 3.5 billion

91. 91

92. • Half of the world's population (3.5
billion people) own no more than a
tiny elite whose numbers could all
fit comfortably on a double-decker
bus." 92

93. Poverty Cycle and Wealth Cycle
• Widening inequality is creating a vicious
circle where wealth and power are
increasingly concentrated in the hands
of a few, leaving the rest of us to fight
over crumbs from the top table
93

94. •
We will soon live in a world where
equality of opportunity is just a
dream. In too many countries
economic growth already amounts
to little more than a 'winner takes
all' windfall for the richest.
94

95. How do rich become
richer?
• 1. The rich use political influence to
convince governments to make
laws that help them, often from
corruption
95

96. • 2. They can afford good
education for their kids, so
cycle continues
96

97. • 3. They pay very low taxes
97

98. • 4. Salaries for CEOs go
up but salaries for
common jobs go down.
98

99. • 5. Governments are spending
less to help people in need

100. REVIEW
100