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Introduction
Probably everyone remembers the famous film The Wolf of Wall Street, where an enterprising young broker, due to his talents and charisma, persistently makes his way to the very top of the economic ladder. However, in the end, a rapid rise leads to a resounding fall, which in my opinion, is the most truthful representation of the modern problem of growing economic inequality. This is one of many illustrations of the problems of a supposedly meritocratic society that can be seen in popular media culture. Thus, often contribute to the legitimization and institutionalization of economic inequality as part of the modern meritocratic culture.
Discussion
When I was younger, society and close people used to say that you need to study hard and in order to succeed in your career, gain money and happiness in the future. Later, watching movies, listening to music, reading magazines and newspaper articles, I met many success stories of ordinary people from the bottom who, through diligence, soared to the top. But how often do we hear stories of how many people have lost themselves in false attempts to achieve success, not even knowing what it means to them? I think not often. The economic inequality created by the ostensible illusion of economic mobility is a source of anxiety in a highly competitive environment for many people. This problem affects millions or even billions of people around the world, which makes it significant.
This article is based on the research of modern sociologists and psychologists, as well as on the materials of journalists and products of popular media culture. Of particular interest in this context is the article by Timberg (2018) How music has responded to a decade of economic inequality, which highlights how popular music often creates a false perception of socio-economic processes. Additionally, the description of a new phenomenon in cinema that Quart (2018), in the article published in the Guardian, calls ‘hysterical surrealism’ presents interest. These articles will give you a general idea of the role of popular media culture in this topic, and I will try to construct a more evidence-based argument.
The Popular Media Trap of Meritocracy
Try Harder
Most people know about the richest people on the planet who own billions of dollars and can afford to fly into space in their own space shuttle. However, there are only a few such people in the world, and everyone knows them by their names, which makes this phenomenon a rarity. At the same time, many people, especially those from less developed countries, are forced to live in debt and constant savings in order to provide themselves with basic necessities. This situation is observed not only depending on the country but also within the same state, which makes the problem even more paradoxical. Why are some people spending to earn a billion in a day while others are forced to count every cent? The principle of meritocracy teaches us that the poor simply did not try hard enough to succeed, while the rich worked hard and therefore now have whatever they want. This is the representation we most often find in popular media, but how accurate is it?
Often listening to music, we can hear the stories of successful rappers who once roamed the street in search of money. We also watch video clips in which young girls in luxury brands actively celebrate their fashionable clothes and expensive cars. However, it is not often that one hears music about what social problems are currently tearing society apart. In particular, there are a limited number of examples of popular songs that focus on the issue of economic inequality. Timberg (2018) notes that contemporary music deals with themes of gender or racial inequality without focusing on economic issues. In particular, genres based on the discussion of topics such as economic inequality are most often on the fringes of popular music. Musicians tend to bring up topics that really excite and affect them personally. However, if you are rich and famous, what is the problem of economic inequality for you?
Seems Fine by Me
This aspect is of great interest in this discussion as it allows us to consider how top earners gradually turn the problem into the norm. Kuusela (2020), in his study, offers evidence that the richest people, members of the upper economic class, tend to ignore the problem of economic inequality. At the same time, the income gap in modern society continues to grow rapidly, which is a matter of concern for representatives of the middle and lower classes. Kuusela (2020) notes that the rising gap occurs not only through an increase in controls over material resources but also “through shared cultural structures, such as frames, narratives and cultural repertoires, through which individuals perceive their environment” (p. 7). The concept of meritocracy, which gradually leads to the transformation of society’s perception of the problem of economic inequality, plays a special role in this process.
Paradoxically Unequal
The paradox of the problem of economic inequality lies in the fact that the more acute it is, the more approval from society it causes. Mijs (2019) argues that “rising inequality is legitimated by the popular belief that the income gap is meritocratically deserved” (p. 1). In other words, in the perception of society, success equals wealth, and its achievement is attributed to unique personal qualities and perseverance. García-Sánchez et al. (2018) also emphasize this trend, arguing that the system justification is the main reason for considering economic inequality as fair. A system based on meritocratic beliefs normatively justifies growing inequality by convincing individuals that it is an indicator of the strength of some and the weakness of others.
The Blessing of Meritocracy
Belief in meritocracy is some kind of defense mechanism that keeps people from realizing that current social conditions are getting worse. In particular, instead of opposition to a growing income gap, the public prefers to strengthen its faith in economic mobility and equal opportunities for all. Despite the unrivaled high level of economic inequality in today’s society, people tend to justify it (Trump, 2020). Notably, “citizens of more unequal societies are more likely to attribute economic differences to meritocratic factors” (Trump, 2020, p. 5). Thus, economic inequality gives rise to the acceptance of this phenomenon by society, which ensures its further strengthening and development. This correlation, which García-Sánchez et al. (2018) called the vicious cycle, is paradoxical because the public should actively resist this state of affairs. However, this does not happen because economic inequality becomes the normative rule that determines how citizens see the ideal distribution of resources in society.
Despite the fact that social inequality has an indirect negative impact on the mental and physical well-being of people, they perceive it as an inevitable process. In particular, this problem increases the anxiety caused by increased competition for material resources and social status (Melita et al., 2021). However, the public tends to abide by the existing order despite deteriorating living conditions. Mijs (2019) explains that “citizens’ consent to inequality is their conviction that poverty and wealth are the outcomes of a fair meritocratic process” (p. 23). According to the researcher, this happens for two main reasons. First of all, people are not able to perceive the full extent of the inequality that exists in society, as they interact with a limited part of it. Secondly, citizens are not aware of the structural mechanisms that lead to the formation of inequality and its consequences in society. Thus, members of the most economically unequal societies in the world view their country as a stronghold of meritocracy, in which success depends solely on the individual’s own merit.
(Un)popular Opinion
What does popular media culture have to do with the formation of this paradox? The answer to this question will be just as paradoxical since culture is fundamentally inseparable from society and is its product. A more recent study by Carbone and Mijs (2021) looks at the representation of meritocratic beliefs in popular songs. Although the conclusions of this article do not directly answer the question posed, they provide valuable insight into the problem. In particular, the authors argue that the “availability of cultural frames influences frame-specific types of beliefs” (Carbone & Mijs, 2021, p. 15). In other words, if society has already developed a meritocratic perception of economic success and economic well-being, then popular songs also support this belief.
Thus, there is little chance that a popular song will raise the topic of economic inequality if it targets an audience in developed countries. These findings are consistent with what Timberg (2018) discusses in his article, emphasizing that popular music in the modern world is not aimed at social critique, including the economic one. This aspect is partly explained by the fact that this genre was created in order to distract people from everyday life. However, there is also the possibility that today’s popular artists are in the top earners status referred to by Kuusela (2020), which does not allow them to view the situation fairly (Kabanda, 2019). For them, economic inequality is the norm, and meritocracy fully justifies the hard work by which many of them, although not all, have reached their position. Timberg (2018) also notes that this lack of attention to the problems of economic inequality is a relatively new trend that came precisely with the rise of the popular music we know. However, it turns out that the agenda of modern popular music reflects the values of a social minority, ignoring the conditions in which the rest of society lives.
Matters of the Past
This situation is also true for films and literature, which in the past often focused on the problem of economic inequality. Quart (2018) explains that many of the classics of the past were related to the theme of poverty, where it was seen more like the end of a character’s life. However, in modern films, TV series, and books, a different agenda dominates, which does not emphasize the importance of economic difficulties. Quart (2018) states that “hysterical surrealism… provides a visual and narrative way out for us metaphorically, through its characters, people who are otherwise trapped.” The author suggests that in a society where everyone is a debtor, it makes no sense to emphasize the scale of this problem. Modern popular art is directed towards the normalization of this economic situation. In fact, if most people in the modern world are struggling with money, then the characters seem fine if they are also poor.
Digital Utopia
Meritocracy is a part and less obvious cultural aspect that was not popular with a general audience in the recent past. Paul (2018) argues that modern video game design culture is built on meritocracy, rewarding the player for skill and effort. The author notes that “merit is a key part of the code within games, effectively becoming a central ideology that shapes what games get made and how they are portrayed.” This assumption is very similar to what researchers, including Mijs (2019), García-Sánchez et al. (2018), and Trump (2020), say about the paradoxical relationship between economic inequality, meritocracy, and their acceptance in society. Regardless of the choice and actions, the games are structured in such a way that all players receive the same experience and come to the same result. However, this statement applies only to projects designed for a single adventure, while online games that involve interaction with other players use the merit system as a basis for competition. The player with the best skill and diligence gets the best position ahead of the opponents, which aligns with the concept of meritocracy in modern societies.
Poor News Reporting
News media, in turn, although they touch upon the problem of economic inequality, are limited to simple reporting. Grisold and Theine (2020) underline that regardless of the framing of news stories, modern media “fails to provide their audience with information needed to understand and evaluate the developments of rising inequality” (p. 82). This statement is consistent with the findings presented by Carbone and Mijs (2021), who note that one of the reasons for the increasing acceptance of economic inequality in society is the lack of awareness of the population about the structural mechanisms of its formation. Thomass (2019) also states that the lack of evaluation of the institutions and decisions of the system is a detriment of information, which also worsens the situation of economic inequality. Thus, modern news media do not provide the public with enough information about this problem which contributes to its further development.
Conclusion
Modern popular media culture, in all its diversity, is based on the principles of meritocracy, within which economic inequality is considered the norm. We have looked at how various aspects of popular culture function within a given economic situation and how they relate to its deterioration. Without a doubt, the highlighted correlations are paradoxical, as is the very nature of the perception of economic inequality in society. However, popular culture does not attempt to oppose but rather chooses to distract people from problem awareness.
References
Carbone, L., & Mijs, J. (2021). Sounds like meritocracy to my ears: Exploring the link between inequality in popular music and personal culture. Information, Communication & Society, 1-19.
García-Sánchez, E., Van der Toorn, J., Rodríguez-Bailón, R., and Willis, G. B. (2018). The vicious cycle of economic inequality: The role of ideology in shaping the relationship between “what is” and “what ought to be” in 41 countries. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10(8), 991-1001.
Grisold, A., & Theine, H. (2020). Review of prior research. In A. Grisold & P. Preston (eds.), Economic inequality and news media: Discourse, power, and redistribution (pp. 70-89). Oxford University Press.
Kabanda, P. (2019). Examining inequality in the arts. United Nations Development Programme. Web.
Kuusela, H. (2020). The hyperopia of wealth: The cultural legitimation of economic inequalities by top earners. Socio-Economic Review, 0(0), 1-24.
Melita, D., Willis, G. B., & Rodríguez-Bailón, R. (2021). Economic inequality increases status anxiety through perceived contextual competitiveness. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1-9.
Mijs, J. (2019). The paradox of inequality: Income inequality and belief in meritocracy go hand in hand. Socio-Economic Review, 0(0), 1-29.
Paul, C. A. (2018). The toxic meritocracy of video games: Why gaming culture is the worst. University of Minnesota Press.
Thomass, B. (2019). Economic inequality, appraisal of the EU and news media. In J. Trappel (ed.), Digital media inequalities (pp. 95-112). Nordicom.
Timberg, S.(2019). How music has responded to a decade of economic inequality. Vox. Web.
Trump, K. S. (2020). When and why is economic inequality seen as fair. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 34, 46-51.
Quart, A. (2018). Hysterical surrealism? A pop culture for our age of economic insecurity. The Guardian. Web.
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