Structural inequality is unequal distribution reproduced by institutional arrangements, operating through systems that normalise advantage and exclusion as features of how society is organised.
Structural inequality differs from individual discrimination. Individual discrimination is visible and punishable: the person who refuses to hire based on race, the institution that denies service based on religion. Structural inequality is systemic: the arrangements that distribute opportunity unequally, the incentives that reward some groups over others, the norms that normalise exclusion as natural.
The distinction matters because individual discrimination can be addressed through enforcement, while structural inequality requires transformation. Removing a discriminatory individual changes the person, not the system. The system continues to produce the conditions that incentivise discrimination. New individuals operate within the same structures, face the same incentives, and produce the same outcomes.
Structural inequality is maintained by the same structures that created it. Economic hierarchy reproduces wealth concentration. Educational systems reproduce knowledge hierarchies. Political systems reproduce decision-making power. The inequality is not static but actively maintained through the reproduction of the conditions that produced it.