eriarvoistamaan

Eriarvoistamaan is a Finnish verb meaning to cause something to be valued differently or to create an inequality in value. The term combines eri- (different) with arvo (value) and the suffix -istaa, which indicates making or causing a quality. The related noun forms include eriarvoistaminen (the act of making something unequal in value) and eriarvoistettu (valued unequally, as a past participle).

Usage and scope

Eriarvoistaminen is used across disciplines such as economics, ethics, and public policy to describe processes or practices that assign different values to people, goods, outcomes, or opportunities. It can refer to pricing practices that treat groups or individuals differently, valuation methods that weight certain outcomes more heavily than others, or policy decisions that imply unequal worth of lives, benefits, or costs.

Examples

In a market context, differential pricing that charges different customers different prices for the same product can be discussed as eriarvoistaminen of consumer value. In health economics, using varying social weights for different health outcomes or populations may be described as eriarvoistamisen of lives or health benefits. In policy debates, valuing some groups’ welfare more than others can be framed as eriarvoistaminen in social valuation.

Related concepts

Eriarvoistaminen relates to broader ideas of arvo, arvottaminen (valuation), and inequality (tasa-arvo/epätasa-arvo). Grammatically, the verb is transitive; its noun forms are commonly used to discuss the process rather than a single act or object.

Notes

The term is primarily used in analytical or critical contexts to discuss how value judgments produce unequal treatment or prioritization.

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