"Inequality promotes strategies that are more self-interested, less affiliative, often highly antisocial, more stressful, and likely to give rise to higher levels of violence, poorer community relations, and worse health. In contrast, the less unequal societies tend to be much more affiliative, less violent, more supportive and inclusive, and marked by better health. It looks almost as if human nature could be developed to produce nearly any mix - from people bordering on antisocial personalities with limited powers of empathy and little sense of responsibility for the common good to the opposite." ~ Richard G. Wilkinson, The Impact of Inequality
“These assholes, they always get away.” ~ George Zimmerman
Neither George Zimmerman nor Trayvon Martin came from backgrounds of money and power. They had far more in common with each other than either of them did with the wealthy elite. Yet the "assholes" that "always get away" in George Zimmerman's mind were not Wall Street bankers or corrupt Washington politicians, at least not consciously. He clearly meant young men who looked like Trayvon Martin and he wasn't going to take it any more.
Now, with the verdict behind us, our collective frustration and rage has expanded from Zimmerman to the jury, "inept" prosecutors, and the inadequacies of the the criminal justice system: inadequacies too numerous to go into here. Most of the focus is on America's continuing racial problems. Inequality, the oxygen feeding all these flames, remains invisible and odorless. In the media, both social and mainstream, it is at best alluded to only vaguely.
Like all the other primates, we're social animals. Richard Wilkinson, the author quoted above to kick this blog post off, argues that "An important aspect of the interpretation of status and class put forward here (The Impact of Inequality) is that to understand class we need to think more about our evolution from monkeys than our ideological debt to Marx." (p. 192, emphasis added) Status matters not because we're innately greedy and power hungry bastards, but because we're social animals. Substitute words like respect and worth for status and you'll see just how important it is to each of us personally. Even the most egalitarian of systems include titles, distinctive clothing, or other markers to communicate the level of respect certain individuals are due in their eyes. However, in a highly hierarchical society where the gaps are extreme those at the bottom of the heap endure far more frequent reminders of their inferior status. They experience far less capacity to get either what they need or what they want, and as virtually all political parties are fond of making very clear - if to somewhat varying degrees - they shouldn't feel entitled to.
Blood samples taken from both people and other social animals show much higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the systems of those at the bottom of the hierarchy than in those at the top. The more extreme the gap between the bottom and the top, the higher the cortisol levels. This in turn leads to significantly lower life-expectancies. These lower life expectancies remain even after adjusting for increased levels of violence between those experiencing low social status and higher rates of many unhealthy coping behaviours such as drugs. In other words, a rich smoker will live longer on average than a poor non-smoker in a highly unequal society. This isn't true where the gap between the rich and poor is relatively narrow. So much for personal responsibility, at least in societies that don't value equality. In the developed world at least, highly unequal cultures have, in effect, created vast populations that are enduring post traumatic stress disorder. For those exposed to high cortisol levels from the moment they were conceived there is nothing "post" about it: it's just cradle to grave traumatic stress disorder.
The science behind all this is about as solid as the science behind climate change. However, you would never know it given the relative inattention it receives. Denial at this point would almost be an improvement since it would at least kick off a discussion about what it is that's being denied. Ignoring the true social costs of inequality is one of the few bipartisan activities taking place in Washington these days. Indeed, wealth redistribution is in many respects a dirtier phrase for Democrats than it is for Republicans given the utter terror they have of experiencing blow black if they utter it. In the US in particular no one is willing to risk being labelled a socialist in spite of the increasingly obvious cumulative failings of the current system. As the current battle over Food Stamps and the increase in student loan interest rates makes clear, the difference between Democrats and Republicans is that the former is more willing to defend the crumbs falling from the elite's table while the latter enjoys railing against the poor for feeling they are entitled to that much. Even assuming a renewal of the Food Stamp program and the restoration of the former status quo when it comes to student loan interest rates, the US will continue to see inequality steadily move toward banana republic proportions unless something far more significant is done. From a status standpoint most welfare programs as currently constituted in the US and much of the developed world only reinforce the sense of inferiority that evolutionary psychology makes clear is generating lethal rifts within our culture, and so were never really solutions to begin with.
In a highly unequal society like the US, we should no longer be shocked when a man like George Zimmerman shoots a black boy wearing a hoodie as he tries to make his way home from the local convenience store. It's far easier to elevate your status, if only a little, by joining the local neighborhood watch and taking on the local "assholes" than it is to find a respectable job, let alone elevate yourself to the stratospheric levels currently enjoyed by the elite at the top of the social totem pole. The sad truth is neither George Zimmerman nor Trayvon Martin, had he lived, would likely have ever been able to imagine such lofty heights. Racism should be criticized, but the ugly fact is it will remain an easy way to elevate perceived personal status unless inequality is addressed. Racism, homophobia, mysogyny, and spousal/child abuse are incentivized as means of enhancing a sense of control and importance in an a highly unequal cultural milieu. So, by the way, is overconsumption. Until we begin the process of closing the gap there will only be more George Zimmerman's in our future.
No comments:
Post a Comment