Blogger Stephen Mack at The New Democratic Review recently posted a cynical response to the review of a new book called The Spirit Level, which explores the social repercussions of economic inequality. The book claims that economic equality is bad for everyone and causes societal breakdowns.
Without having read the book, I would like to expand upon the reason that economic inequalities are a social time bomb. The claim that economic inequality fosters societal breakdown “by boosting insecurity and anxiety, which leads to divisive prejudice between the classes, rampant consumerism, and all manner of mental and physical suffering” really only covers the symptoms of the problem. The reason economic inequality boosts insecurity and anxiety rests in the political nature of a segregated economic system.
As set forth by Aristotle, a large upper class increases the prevalence of factions, while a large lower class increases the chances of revolt. Both factions and revolutions disrupt the government and threaten the stability of a society. Money yields political power. It is not uncommon for the interests of the upper class to be over-represented in government, and often these interests are pursued at the expense of the poor.
In turn, a large lower class threatens the stability of the upper class through the increased risk of a revolution. Economic inequality degrades a society because it is not isolated to the economic realm. It extends into the social and political realm, where is disrupts society at multiple levels.
Economic inequality further hurts society by invading upon the individual’s pursuit of his of her goals. In America we tend to characterize financial wealth as a marker of societal success. By this mentality, those at the top of the ladder are the most “successful,” and everyone is racing to the top. Economic inequality has created this specific definition of success, and in doing so it isolated those at the bottom of the ladder as failures.
I’ve always though success to be the fulfillment of personal goals. The accumulation of wealth may not be everyone’s personal goal, but in a society which values financial gains first and foremost, this accumulation inadvertently becomes a mark of social distinction. In a culture with greater economic equality, success can no longer be defined solely by the accumulation of capital. With no ladder to climb, one has the freedom to create, and live up to, one’s own definition of success. “Success” will not be tied to fulfilling cultural expectations.
