ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how causes of inequality are inherent in societal systems. The most important societal system in contemporary societies is capitalism. It focuses on five systemic causes of inequality. The first such systemic cause of inequality is the one associated with the capitalist exchange relation. Secondly, capital should also be defined as a relation of production. Thirdly, capital contains a potential cause of structural inequality, which is inherent in the tendency of the organic composition of capital to rise. Fourthly, the capitalist type of state materialises a liberal outlook on people which treats the individual as the origin of society. Finally, as the capitalist type of state incarnates intellectual labour in its division from manual labour it favours a special approach to knowledge, namely one which associates knowledge with the mind and writing at the expense of the body and speaking.
