Social inequality is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society. Let's examine some causes and effects of poverty and test our knowledge with a quiz. The major examples of social inequality include income gap, gender inequality, health care, and social class. In health care, some individuals receive better and more professional care compared to others. In most societies, an individual's social status is a combination of ascribed and achieved factors. Structural conditions include things that can be objectively measured and that contribute to social inequality. Sociologists study how things like educational attainment, wealth, poverty, occupations, and power lead to social inequality between individuals and groups of people. There are five systems or types of social inequality: wealth inequality, treatment and responsibility inequality, political inequality, life inequality, and membership inequality. Political inequality is the difference brought about by the ability to access governmental resources which therefore have no civic equality.