<P> In the United States, Angela Davis argues that mass incarceration has been a modern tool of the state to impose inequality, repression, and discrimination upon African American and Hispanics . The War on Drugs has been a campaign with disparate effects, ensuring the constant incarceration of poor, vulnerable, and marginalized populations in North America . Over a million African Americans are incarcerated in the US, 15% of whom have been convicted of a non-violent drug possession charge . With the States of Colorado and Washington having legalized the possession of marijuana, drug reformists and anti-war on drugs lobbyists are hopeful that drug issues will be interpreted and dealt with from a healthcare perspective instead of a matter of criminal law . In Canada, Aboriginal, First Nations, and Indigenous persons represent over a quarter of the federal prison population, even though they only represent 3% of the country's population . </P> <P> Age discrimination is defined as the unfair treatment of people with regard to promotions, recruitment, resources, or privileges because of their age . It is also known as ageism: the stereotyping of and discrimination against individuals or groups based upon their age . It is a set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values used to justify age - based prejudice, discrimination, and subordination . One form of ageism is adultism, which is the discrimination against children and people under the legal adult age . An example of an act of adultism might be the policy of a certain establishment, restaurant, or place of business to not allow those under the legal adult age to enter their premises after a certain time or at all . While some people may benefit or enjoy these practices, some find them offensive and discriminatory . Discrimination against those under the age of 40 however is not illegal under the current U.S. Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). </P> <P> As implied in the definitions above, treating people differently based upon their age is not necessarily discrimination . Virtually every society has age - stratification, meaning that the age structure in a society changes as people begin to live longer and the population becomes older . In most cultures, there are different social role expectations for people of different ages to perform . Every society manages people's ageing by allocating certain roles for different age groups . Age discrimination primarily occurs when age is used as an unfair criterion for allocating more or less resources . Scholars of age inequality have suggested that certain social organizations favor particular age inequalities . For instance, because of their emphasis on training and maintaining productive citizens, modern capitalist societies may dedicate disproportionate resources to training the young and maintaining the middle - aged worker to the detriment of the elderly and the retired (especially those already disadvantaged by income / wealth inequality). </P> <P> In modern, technologically advanced societies, there is a tendency for both the young and the old to be relatively disadvantaged . However, more recently, in the United States the tendency is for the young to be most disadvantaged . For example, poverty levels in the U.S. have been decreasing among people aged 65 and older since the early 1970s whereas the number children under 18 in poverty has steadily risen . Sometimes, the elderly have had the opportunity to build their wealth throughout their lives, younger people have the disadvantage of recently entering into or having not yet entered into the economic sphere . The larger contributor to this, however is the increase in the number of people over 65 receiving Social Security and Medicare benefits in the U.S. </P>

Social inequality is a necessary part of society