Transcript Injustice: Why social inequality persists The claim: the five social evils identified by Beveridge in 1942 are gradually being eradicated, they are being.

Injustice:
Why social inequality persists
The claim: the five social evils identified by Beveridge in 1942 are gradually
being eradicated, they are being replaced by five new tenets of injustice elitism, exclusion, prejudice, greed and despair.
Social injustices are now being recreated, renewed and supported by these
five new sets of unjust beliefs. We need to again begin to think differently.
Danny Dorling
University of Sheffield
From ignorance…

In 1942 illiteracy was
widespread and
numeracy was even
worse. James Flynn has
shown how much we have
improved since (‘The Flynn
effect’)

However, educational
apartheid in the UK has risen
as the majority of additional
qualifications in recent
decades have been awarded
to a minority of young adults
Great road
Topography
Major
Britain
network...
and Rivers
…to elitism



A seventh of children in
affluent countries are now
routinely described as
“found limited or simple
at learning” by the OECD
Many now again believe that
the ‘ability’ of children is
distributed along a bell-curve
with little chance for most of
rising much above their set
potential
This elitism is erroneously
seen as being somehow
efficient
From want …



In 1942, for the first time in
Britain, many of the poor
did not go hungry thanks
to rationing
Absolute material deprivation
was reduced to the point
where obesity became
associated with poverty
Social segregation has
increased as real financial
rewards and benefits to those
worse off have fallen — just
as the riches of the wealthy
have grown
… to exclusion



a sixth of people in the more
unequal rich countries are
‘debarred’: excluded from
full membership of society
because of poverty. A much
smaller proportion exclude
themselves from social norms
by dint of their wealth.
Questioning these extremes
is far from encouraged
Exclusion has become
accepted as a new necessity,
both the super-rich and
widespread inequality have
become acceptable
From idleness…



In the 1930s millions of
people were desperate for a
job … any job
That desperation was
eradicated by creating new
employment and providing
better social security
But a wider racism has
developed, a new social
Darwinism, which sees some
people as inherently less
deserving and able than
those who ‘need’ great
rewards to work in ‘top jobs’
…to prejudice


a fifth of adults in countries
like Britain and the United
States are now serial
“debtors”. Rising inequalities
in income and wealth have
made it more likely that
people get into debt in order
to keep up with their peer
group and avoid being judged
‘undeserving’, of living in the
wrong place, or of just
wearing the wrong clothes.
This prejudice is being
painted as natural – as
Darwinian.
From squalor…



After 1942 unprecedented
numbers of households were
homeless, the eradication of
slums was a priority
Most spending on housing
was initially for those who
most needed housing
But now a mantra is widely
accepted that for those who
have most to spend, their
spending is necessary at
almost any cost, including
growing global inequalities
and mounting debt
…to greed




a quarter of households in
Britain are ‘discarded’ in
terms of social inclusion.
Many cannot afford to run a
car while others have more
cars than they can drive.
Foreign holidays are
advertised as normal,
whereas increasing numbers
of households cannot afford a
single annual holiday
Greed is presented as good,
welcomed as what now
drives our model of economic
growth, not ‘duty’ but ‘greed’
Great Britain’s population distribution
From disease…



In 1942 a near bankrupt
country planned the
introduction of efficient
national health care
The NHS and reduced social
inequality, resulting in a great
reduction in suffering and fear
of physical disease
But anxiety rose in place of
disease, best understood as
a symptom of living in times
and places when wide
inequalities are seen as
acceptable
Political Britain
…to despair


a third of families in Britain
now contain someone who
suffers depression or
chronic anxiety disorder. The
result of living in more
unequal affluent countries is
to harm the mental well-being
of people in general and
especially adolescents, who
now face such uncertain
futures
Despair is becoming seen as
inevitable, the symptoms
require mass medication, but
what of the causes…?
Greedy Britain
Inequality is expensive. In money,
Credits
learning, respect, labour, housing and lives.
Presentation by
Danny Dorling
and Benjamin Hennig
Among the world’s richest 25 countries:
The most unequal are:
17.7 Singapore (-)
15.9 US (20)
15.0 Portugal (-)
13.8 UK (22)
13.4 Israel (-)
Maps and animations by
Benjamin Hennig
And the most equal are:
6.9
Germany (14)
6.2
Sweden (8)
6.1
Norway (8)
5.6
Finland (10)
4.5
Japan (-)
90: 10 income ratios (note 37 page 327 of
‘Injustice’ Why social inequality persists)
(in brackets UNDP 2009 % aged 16-65 lacking literacy)
Unequal Britain