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.
William Masters
Inequalities breed discontent in our modern society
- William Masters
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Time for lawmakers who put needs of society first
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William Masters: Nation stands divided between 'us' and 'them'
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Inequalities breed social dysfunction
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Inequalities breed discontent in our modern society
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Consider competence, congeniality when voting
NetSummary
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Thoughts of a 'bleeding-heart' liberal
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Time for lawmakers who put needs of society first
