Entrenched inequality
Topic: Equality and Social Justice · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 3 "Equality"
Meaning
Entrenched inequality is inequality that stays in place, untouched, over many generations. The same families stay rich and the same families stay poor, so society splits into hereditary classes. It breeds resentment and can lead to violence. It is hard to reform because the wealthy also hold political power and can block change. Liberals do not object to every inequality. Their concern is inequality of this unjust, entrenched kind.
Example
Taxes on inherited wealth are one way to stop wealth staying in the same families forever. India abolished estate duty in 1985 and wealth tax in 2015. This weakened two tools that could have checked entrenched inequality.
Don't confuse with
- Economic equality: this is the broad aim of having no large gaps in wealth or income. Entrenched inequality is a particular problem: the gaps are passed down from one generation to the next.