ABSTRACT
In the Americas, the issue of social inequality was and is at the centre of political debate whereby both vertical inequalities regarding the distribution of income and wealth as well as horizontal inequalities regarding the discrimination and marginalization of specific ethnic, religious, or other social groups are thematized. The political question of overcoming injustices as well as generating more social cohesion arises, in particular, in the empirical assessment and historical dimensions of social inequality. Structuralist approaches have suggested that in order to revert extreme social inequality, the state must promote policies that prioritize income and land redistribution as a means of transforming existing social structures. The transformation of social structures and the issue of social inequality were at the centre of scholarly reflection throughout the Americas during the mid-20th century. Since the 1990s, contemporary economic conjuncture and social polarization have been based on hyper-accumulation on the liberalized financial markets and the economy of the information age.
