SOCIOECONOMICS - Polo Centre of Sustainability

SOCIETY STUDIES

RIGHTS

SOCIOECONOMICS

GENDER

Socioeconomics: Definition
Socioeconomics – or social economics – are concerns regarding the factors that can impact an individual or family’s social standing and economic status. These concerns or questions include the ethics, fairness and results of policies, theories and institutions that may result in a different standard of treatment and opportunities based on socioeconomic status. Poverty is a major socioeconomic issue because it is the source of many other socioeconomic concerns. Socioeconomic factors are lifestyle components and measurements of both financial viability and social standing. They directly influence social privilege and levels of financial independence. Factors such as health status, income, environment and education are studied by the Centre’s sociologists in terms of how they each affect human behaviours and circumstances. As lifestyle measurements, they are believed to be directly correlated to patterns of drug use, health, food choices, migration, disease prevalence and rates of mortality in human populations.

Socioeconomics: Inequalities
The issue of socioeconomic inequalities is by and large addressed in terms of the extreme poor detached from the relational dimensions of the extreme rich. This extreme wealth-imbalance is characterised as a result of multifaceted processes led by the emergence of complex forms of appropriation and private enjoyment of the socially affluent. Sociological expertise can bring light to this subject matter by way of social classes and conceptualising the consequences of this current process on society as a whole – covering substantial wealth and personification of wealth – via the affluent class. Collectively, it should be recognised that hindrances and prejudices exist from historical class difference in which we envision a need to be overcome. This would allow progress toward the production of critical knowledge about the division of society and the formation of power and of subordination. Within the European Commission's Social Sciences and Humanities focus, specific policy area research focuses on reversing such inequalities, we at the Centre are in support of this research and are fully committed in creating a Europe with a 'Triple-A Social Rating' and strengthening the concept of the European Social Model. Further information on the European Commission’s work on wealth disparities can be found on its Reversing Inequalities website at [ec.europa.eu/research/social-sciences/index.cfm?pg=policies&policyname=inequalities]. The Centre has enlarged its socioeconomics research throughout Europe and has expanded to include parts of Southeast Asia, North America and Australia.

Case Study: Italy
The divide between the 'givers' and the 'takers' is well known across the broad European Union, but it is just as prevalent as on the national scale in Italy. This chasm between the two sides of fiscal profligacy marks a critical separation between North and South. In 2013, the North of the country tended to be the net tax contributor and the South the net receiver of fiscal benefits. At the very top is Lombardia, the richest state, a northern region that sent a net EUR44bn to the rest of the nation; while, the most broke state, Sicilia, received a net EUR 12.8 from the rest of the nation. This divide can further be examined by looking at Italy's regions' Human Development Index (HDI). In 2006, no region in Italy was close to the underdeveloped core states of the United States (i.e. Kentucky had the lowest HDI in 2006); however, Italy's lowest HDI region of Campania was comparable to Uruguay and Cuba, and stood just above countries like Mexico and Bulgaria. As a whole, Italy's HDI number of .945, is comparable to Portugal or the Czech Republic. The Centre closely observes its host nation's development potential and provides input and feedback, accordingly.