Traditionally, society was characterized by extremely complicated relationships between individuals. Conflicts were and still are an essential part of social life causing numerous problems. At the same time, the modern society has made a substantial progress and is considered to be highly democratic and advanced, though, in actuality, many social problems still remain unsolved. One of such serious problems is the problem of discrimination which is relevant even in the most democratic societies.
Speaking about the problem of discrimination, it should be said that this problem is not new and historically accompanied the development of practically all societies. In fact, discrimination may acquire various forms but its nature does not change dramatically. Nowadays, it is still possible to speak about discrimination which is based on the lack of opportunities for certain categories of people, or to put it more precisely, it is based on different opportunities, regardless formal equality of human rights.
In this respect, it should be said that there is still gender discrimination when women are deprived of an opportunity to take leading positions in the society and are forced to live in accordance to the existing biases and gender roles defined by stereotypes and imposed to women since early childhood. The same may be said about the discrimination on the basis of social position of an individual since it is not a secret that representatives of upper classes have much more opportunities to receive higher education and make a good professional career than representatives of lower classes. The problem of racial discrimination is close to the previous one since representatives of ethnic minorities are often viewed as socially dangerous or secondary class citizens.
To a significant extent the problem of discrimination is predetermined and caused by the existing stereotypes and biases but, the root of the problem may be easily found in socio-economic inequality, which actually provokes social conflicts and leads to discrimination. In fact, it is not a secret that the existing ideology and stereotypes are defined by the dominant group in society while other groups are oppressed by the ruling elite.
This is why in the situation when the modern socio-economic and politic elite is white and male it is quite natural that representatives of other groups, including women and ethnic minorities are discriminated by the ruling one which imposes its ideology on and oppresses the rest of the society. It is also worthy of noting that the wider is the gap between the ruling elite and minor groups the higher is the risk of conflicts between representatives of different groups and, thus, the more likely the discrimination will progress.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that the problem of discrimination is still relevant and basically it results from the existing socio-economic inequality that leads to conflicts between different social groups and groups of interests which target at the protection of their own interest often oppressing and discriminating representatives of other social groups.