So many Americans feel a dispirited sense of complaint. The conservative ranks have gravitated to Tea Party anger, while more lately, a less-defined segment has turned out to "occupy" public areas for mutual support as the amorphous "99 percent" is filled with discontent about the elite 1 percent reaping the lion's share of wealth.
The Republican presidential primary contestants vie to be the most radical rescuer. Each says that government itself needs to be overhauled radically. But a solution remains unclear and elusive.
Who or what is to blame? We are so inflamed by political tug-o-wars that common ground is hard to imagine. All we see is how wealthy interests lavishly reward themselves in an economy that fails even to provide jobs for so many.
Some are so flush while many have next to nothing. This inequality gap by itself is apparently more destructive to our social well-being than is the scale of poverty among us.
Recent research published in a 2010 book by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett _ "The Spirit Level" _ makes starkly clear that social dysfunction within a country correlates highly with how much inequality is inside it. A steep hierarchy undermines the sense of unity.
One way or another everyone gets affected, whatever the overall prosperity of the country. The information I offer here is largely drawn from their work. They show that life spans and levels of health decrease, while educational performance, bullying, delinquency and violence increase with high inequality.
Rankings of countries by such social dysfunction correspond with rankings of inequality of wealth, but not with their overall wealth and prosperity. They vary according to the size of the inequality gap within each country.
Our own country is one of the most unequal societies in the world. We have high rates of violence, questionable academic performance in many schools and the highest rate of imprisonment any country.
Income inequities within a society affect its citizens with the stress of being marginalized. That condition is associated with ill health, shorter life spans, higher infant death, lower educational performance, teen parenthood, violence, and high rates of incarceration.
It is not just that the advantaged benefit more than the poor, but that huge gap between the haves and the have-nots is associated with social problems that afflict the population at large. This happens regardless of whether the country is rich or poor.
A black man in Harlem is less likely to live to age 65 than a man in Bangladesh. It has to do with the equilibrium within each society. When a person's world is structured around status, stress increases dysfunction, which undermines social values and well-being. A climate of trust bolsters a sense of security, but is reduced by hierarchical class differences.
People need to feel that they have membership in their community, that they belong, and can make valuable contributions. An accentuated pecking order undercuts pride and self-worth.
More egalitarian societies are apparently healthier societies. The denial and melting of brotherhood tends to snowball. The poor, trapped in conditions that shame them, are too often blamed for their failure to participate productively in societies that are skewed against them. Mutuality and shared dignity fade, and anger insidiously spreads. Cynicism and mistrust grow, and patriotism wanes.
Equality with freedom from oppression and inalienable rights are the American ideal. Liberty meant freedom from oppression. Alexis de Tocqueville especially noted in the early 1800s how conditions in America reflected equality of conditions, less focused on rank, and a climate of working together without social self-consciousness.
There is a corrosive link between high social inequality and the sense people get of being inferior. That is not deliberate but has nonetheless been a consequence that has eroded our national culture since the middle of the last century.
The last two decades have been the worst. Anxiety levels have risen among college populations, for example. Even children in general are now found to be more anxious than those referred for counseling 60 years ago.
Dysfunction within our society is not going to be fixed by growing the economy. Wilkinson and Pickett give strong evidence that both our broken society and our broken economy have resulted from the growth of inequality.
We are close to the limits of what economic growth can heal. Material success is not the automatic equivalent to societal health. Like mold on one side of an orange, inequality damages the whole fruit.
Blaming does not address the pain. It is like asking for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for all of us.
William Masters can be reached at wmasters@thedailystar.com. The views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of The Daily Star and its editorial board.
Columns
Inequalities breed discontent in our modern society
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
- Cary Brunswick
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Some wisdom is best passed down through books
I was visiting a friend out-of-town recently and the subject of providing a "reading list" to young people came up in conversation. He said years ago he had asked a respected acquaintance in Oneonta to compile such a list for his teenage daughter, to help her be better prepared for life, culture, education, politics and people.
Continued ... - Let pragmatism, not politics, determine birth control debate
- As Center Street Elementary goes, so goes Center City
- U.S. intervention in Syria's uprising would be a gamble
- Santorum, Obama both got it wrong on Honduras
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- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
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If we don’t develop a sustainable system, who will?
In Otsego County’s local elections last fall, a number of candidates — most of them on the independent Sustainable Otsego line — ran on an anti-fracking, pro-sustainability platform. They recognized that our current way of life — dependent on increasingly scarce, costly and polluting fossil fuels — cannot continue.
Continued ... - Time to get off the bus and on the computer
- Cuomo's Machiavellian maneuvers are a danger
- Home rule laws aren't a radical idea
- Sustainable shouldn't be a dirty word
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If we don’t develop a sustainable system, who will?
- Lisa Miller
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Being a parent is a constant learning process
I am sitting cross-legged on the floor in the dressing room, waiting for Allie's dance number to be called. The cave girl costume has been donned, the jazz shoes double-tied, the hair pulled back, the requisite dab of lipstick applied.
Continued ... - Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
- Untethered from the cable box
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Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Mark Simonson
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Perfect attendance by Saturday’s Bread for 20 years in Oneonta
Oneonta became a settlement and has been a place to do one's "trading," whether it was the 18th century, or 2012, because of the five valleys that converge here. Only the places of doing the "trading" have changed a bit over the last 100 years, and Oneonta remains a place that attracts visitors and has always been a decent place to live and work.
Continued ...
100 Years Ago - Recalling the Hindenburg, John D. Rockefeller in May 1937
- Oneonta residents had diversions aplenty in the spring of 1952
- Damaschke essential to ensuring Oneonta baseball in 1927
- Area tunes to WONT in November 1972
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Perfect attendance by Saturday’s Bread for 20 years in Oneonta
- Rick Brockway
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Climbing is one thing, but skydiving?
OUTDOORS COLUMN BY RICK BROCKWAY ... Last week, my friend George and I returned to the Gunks for another rock-climbing adventure. After last week's column, I asked about the rattlesnakes and was told not to worry. Rattlers are usually quite timid and will avoid people as much as possible. It's the copperheads that'll give you trouble. They're aggressive and will stand their ground to defend it. Oh great!!
- Rattlesnakes may be closer than you think, so pay attention
- Spring is here, so fishing should pick up soon
- Sneaky fox may be the next animal looking to horse around
- Pass down the rush of turkey hunting to your kids this weekend
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Climbing is one thing, but skydiving?
- Sam Pollak
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I'm happy with our kids to a certain degree
It was several years ago, and I was in the kitchen, telling my eldest daughter and my then-teenaged son about the person who was taking over as publisher at The Daily Star.
Continued ... - I get by with a little help from my 'friends'
- It’s not easy for a politics junkie to get off the stuff
- The Encyclopaedia Britannica in print, unmourned by me
- Angelo Dundee was always a good man to have in your corner
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- William Masters
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Time for lawmakers who put needs of society first
Richard Lugar, after six terms as a Republican senator -- known for his middle of the road rationality and his foreign policy finesse -- has been ousted by a Tea Party extremist backed by outside right-wing funding.
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War not worth gambling with lives of soldiers
Are you not tired of our war in Afghanistan? It had a point, once, after 9/11. Bush couldn't distinguish his myopic personal agendas from the nation's needs and let Osama escape, dropping the ball entirely, causing many deaths.
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Titanic was a microcosm of U.S. economic disparity
Haunting reminders of the Titanic tragedy have wafted over us with the centenary of its sinking. The maiden voyage of an impressive, state of the art vessel, was a little like that of the Challenger space shuttle, at the cutting edge of developing technology. But the shuttle carried our pride in science and space exploration, not hundreds and hundreds of people.
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William Masters: Nation stands divided between 'us' and 'them'
In February, Trayvon Martin was shot dead as "suspicious" by a volunteer neighborhood watch man. The case has aroused community reaction in Sanford, Fla., and is still echoing across the country.
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A quarterback can't win the game alone
What is the relationship between democracy and wealth? Democracy is a political system, while wealth relates to economics. We have equal political rights, but we don't all have money. Extreme differences destroy the continuity of community solidarity.
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Time for lawmakers who put needs of society first
