Social Inequalities and Development in India

Myrdal provides many perceptive leads to an understanding of the nature of poverty and inequalities among these nations,, though he does not attempt any systematic theory. According to him, "low average income inequality and social stratification are causally interrelated''. He maintains: "Inequality of social status is not only made more rigid and permanent by low levels of income . . but itself tends to perpetuate its major cause'' (Myrdal 1968, 569 italics added). Insofar as inequality of status is a reflection of inequality of income, it is obvious that status differences and income differences an? correlated. . But what is distinctive in Myrdal's argument is that, among the societies under reference, inequality of status is an independent variable and that inequality of income is a dependent one. When development takes place, resulting in an overall increase in income, the additional income is distributed according to the inequality of status