Economic Inequality
By Ana Brenescoto
In every one of the developed countries in the world life expectancy is five is five, ten or even fifteen years shorter for people living in the poorest areas compared to people living in the richest areas (Wilkinson, 1). Economic inequality affects everyone, it promotes strategies that are self interested, antisocial, stressful, likely to give rise to higher levels of violence, poorer community relations and worse health. More equal societies tend to be more affiliative, less violent, more inclusive and healthier (Wilkinson, 23). Social anxieties are provoked by economic inequality and create fear of inferiority and inadequacy in relation to others. When groups of people see themselves as subordinates in hierarchical societies loss of status and rejection is experienced. Feelings of shame and accepting one’s inferiority can reject or contest shame from others. many respond to shame and disrespect with anger and violence (Wilkinson, 97).
Researchers agree that wealth ownership in the United States is very unequal, and it has worsened in the last few decades. (Keister, 67). While the richest continue to become richer, the poor are going down on the descending line. For example, the wealth of the poorest 80% of households decreased by more than 2% between 1983 and 1989, and most of the accumulation of wealth happened in the top 20% (Keister, 69).
As inequality increases we move from strategies that favor cooperative forms of assistance to competitive dominance strategies that are based on power and aggression. As a whole, we become more dependant on self-serving competitive strategies and withdraw from social and community activities (Wilkinson, 200)
Works cited
Wilkinson, Richard. (2005). The Impact of Inequality. New York: The New Press.
Keister, L. A., & Moller, S. (2000). Wealth inequality in the United States.Annual Review of Sociology, 63-81.
I think the topic of your post is very interesting. I like the facts you included but i wasn't sure what "five is five" meant. I look forward to hearing specific stories and examples of this in every day life. I like that you suggest ways of improving this difficult situation.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of this post that stood out to me is the psychological effect that lower-income people have a result of not having a lot of money and assets. We always hear about how economic equality affects people because they struggle to afford to put dinner on the table or cannot afford an education. But, most people do not realize that people who are not well-off financially suffer from severe stress because they are worried about not being able to eat and working tireless hours. I thought it was really interesting to hear this aspect of economic inequality, especially when you said that these financial disparities create social anxieties.
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