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Our second theme is social inequality, a founding issue of sociology from its origins in the nineteenth century. Can this really still be a key theme today? The simple answer is, yes. Inequality, both within a single society and between diff erent societies, is just as significant today as it was in the past, and in some ways even more so. Despite the fabulous productive capacity and wealth that exist today, the distribution of rewards remains grossly unequal. Some recent research finds that, globally, the world’s wealth has accumulated disproportionately in the hands of a tiny proportion of the global population. Chapter 6, ‘Global Inequality’, deals with this issue most directly, though numerous others also cover the issue. Economic inequality is just one form of inequality recognized by sociologists today. Race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability and age-related inequality are all discussed at various points in the book. Many studies today have found that apparently discrete forms of inequality are, in fact, interrelated, producing a diverse set of individual life experiences. Sociologists now routinely look to explore the ways in which these major social inequalities ‘intersect’.