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Three broad theoretical varieties of racial inequality are discussed: (1) deficiency theories; (2) bias theories: and (3) structural discrimination theories. Deficiency theories rest on the notion that racial inequality is due to deficiencies within the minority groups and has assumed three varieties: (a) biological, (b) structural and (c) cultural. The second broad category, bias theories, sees racial inequality as rooted in the biases of dominant group members. The third category, structural theories, locates explanations of racial inequality in the structure of society itself and has assumed two basic varieties: (a) class, and (b) colonial. The author reveals a greater ideological kinship with structural theories. The author concludes by suggesting that three basic strategies exist as remedies for racial inequality: (1) the civil rights strategy (prohibiting discrimination and enforcing the laws); (2) the poverty approach (helping the poor out of poverty; and (3) the affirmative action strategy (taking race into account). These and other remedies will be needed; however, prospects for the reduction of racial inequality for the larger marjority of African Americans are not promising at the present time.
Social inequality is a topic of long standing concern in the social science; however, I will not attempt to document the evolution of this concern. In the brief span of this article I will be concerned about one principal type of social inequality, i.e., racial inequality; however, in as much as inequality by race is but one instance of social inequality in general, my discussion should have some degree of generalizability to the larger theoretical question of who gets how much of what and why.
All sorts if ideas, theories, and models are advanced to interpret, explain, or defend the social fact of inequality by race. Theories of racial inequality can be divided into three broad categories: 1) deficiency theories, 2) bias theories, and 3) structural discrimination theories (Barrera, 1979). A discussion of these broad theoretical perspectives, and their sub-types, is the principal concern of this paper. But first, a few words about social inequality in general.
Leonard Reissman (1973) contends that an ideological bias exists in the American system with respect to inequality; a bias revealed in the manner in which the rhetoric and promise of "equality" is emphasized over the day-to-day realities...