Social Inequality and Health: A Study of Tribes in Assam

Abstract

Social inequality is differential access to wealth, power, and prestige where unequal distribution of social resources and responsibilities exists. Social inequality has been termed as a feature of ranking and stratifying society into different groups or categories where people are justified and given preference on the basis of their status or categories. Social inequality is regarded as a source of social conflict, tensions that may lead to the decline of control, the fall of orders and values; furthermore, lead to temporary or permanent social disorganization. More or less, social inequality is impacting people’s lifestyles and is reflected in their health conditions. So, an effort through this paper is made to trace the relationship between social inequality and its impacts on people’s health conditions which are resulted in their emotional state, health-seeking behavior, achievements, and participation in the global environment. Furthermore, this paper concentrates on the tribes of Assam like Bodo, Garo, Rabha, Mising , etc. , and their everyday lifestyle and also describes the challenges people are facing in the extreme stage of social inequality.