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the concept of social equality as we know it today originated from political philosophers trying to conceive a society structure different from the prevailing norm at the time (ie, monarchy and feudalism). the general idea was that, instead of having certain people (kings, aristocrats) being inherently more favored by God than others, everyone was equal before the eyes of God, no matter to whom they were born. In that context, I think equality is easy to understand--the idea that birthright should not determine your social status.
Nowdays, the idea of equality is as elusive as the ideas of 'fairness' and 'justice'. It's something that you understand at a gut level, something that you feel ought to exist in society, but defining it exactly is tricky and subjective. Plenty of people have tried. Although the details are elusive, the general idea of social equality is that everyone in society should have equal opportunity to define the society in which we live, without being unduly held back by superficial considerations, such as color, birthright, etc.
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