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Are we heading for greater inequality?
Jeroen
Luminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlands Veteran
An excellent article on inequality... I rarely venture far into political philosophy but the issue of equality I find very touching. I would like to see a world that is a meritocracy with people starting from a close to equal basis, but according to this article that is not the world we are likely to get. Worth reading.
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Comments
I enjoyed the article too.
As a theoretical concept, meritocracy sounds great. In another forum I'm in which tends to be more about politics, the concept of meritocracy (although it may not be called that) is often brought up...and always by white, conservative Republicans. It's a way for them to say, "See how well I am doing. It's because the way I lead my life has merit. The way in which I was educated has merit. The kind of marriage I have has merit. (and so forth)". And it's really a way of saying, "See that group over there," and that group may be Blacks or Latinos, "they don't have the merit that me and my group has. They're not as well educated as I am. They don't have the same social graces I have. They don't go to a meritorious church. (and so forth)" It's just another tool to separate people that are different than they are.
Meritocracy does work. If the group is small enough. For example, since this is a Buddhist forum, let's take 10 rice farmers in Issan in Thailand. They each own 10 acres of land, equally irrigated, and probably the hardest worker will reap the biggest crop. But one of the ten is an old man and can't work as hard. His results will suffer. Was it because of less merit? No. It's because of outside forces over which he has no control.
I was doing much better when I lived in Northern Virginia than the Black guy my age who lived 10 miles away on U Street in D.C. Was it merit? No. I had a really education, which he did not. And why did I have that really good education? Although I did the work, I had a scholarship and my parents helped pay for that education. I didn't do it on my own. On the other hand, the other guy's parents lived in an almost-ghetto area. There was no money for college. Because I lived in a nice townhouse, and he lived in an almost-slum, my living standards were higher. Was it meritocracy? Not really. Half the cost of my first townhouse came from an inheritance. But there were no such inheritances in his life.
Luck of the draw is just as important as merit in how one conducts their lives. At least that's how I see it.
Well that's why we have social democracy in Europe, and safety nets for the sick and disabled and elderly in law. But the point I was making was that everyone should start from an equal basis - perhaps a 100% inheritance tax and instead a state grant for everyone when you are 25 would be a way to do this. We should try to eliminate the "luck of the draw" of family background, that is the only way you will truly see which people are talented and hard-working.
But from a Buddhist point of view, compassion and merit have a quite different meaning. I don't know to what extent it is practiced, but you would hope that one rice farmer would help another if he had trouble with his crops.