Category: Inequality

After the 2008-2009 recession, we can see that the United States is now the country with the most inequalities in several areas such as social inequality and well-being. Previously, the United States was an example for other countries around the world. From now on, they must absolutely solve the problem of inequalities that are harmful to the country’s development. Leaving such situations is unthinkable for the future. It would be totally unethical not to act.

Michael Norton and Dan Ariely of Harvard Business School in 2011, conducted a survey on inequality in the United States to find out what people really thought about disparities. This study revealed that the population underestimated the current situation. Today in 2019, the richest 1% hold nearly 50% of the country’s heritage.

This shows that the richest have a dominant position compared to the disadvantaged. This example shows us the existence of differences between the population. Such gaps still present in 2019 show us that much remains to be done if the United States is to regain its nobility for the whole world. This research paper will illustrate the omnipresent inequalities of the USA that hinder the economic development of such a power.

However, people who are favoured by their high income have allowed us to discover certain products or services. Indeed, let us take as an example the mobile phone which was considered a luxury product whereas 30 years after its commercialization it has become a product almost accessible to all. While it is true that the income inequalities should not be so pronounced, it is essential not to ignore the fact that income inequalities allow our development and have an important place in our evolution. Income inequalities have led to many changes that are now beneficial to everybody.

This paper will demonstrate three factors of inequality in the US. First of all, we will see that social class inequality is reinforced by race and gender discrimination that is usual in the US before turning to social class inequalities are pressured by one’s family situation and reputation, and the stereotypes that come with it. Finally, the report will describe that social class inequality is based on income.

Income inequality is a positive finding for the entire American population when it comes to a free market economy. Indeed, we have the possibility to take our destiny in hand according to our personal skills and aspirations. We have the great luxury of choosing our path of work or not, high income or not and in our chosen field. To the extent that each individual is different, each individual’s choices will inevitably lead to inequalities.

This free will to choose one’s own life allows us to accept these inequalities without causing suffering in us, quite the contrary, we even find them normal. The free market economy will allow the less wealthy to acquire products that were exclusively reserved for the rich until a few years ago. Indeed, fortunately, a large number of the wealthiest people were able to acquire these very expensive products in order to allow them to be marketed a few years later, at much more affordable prices. This was mainly true for Hi-Tech products such as mobile phones or excessively expensive flat screens, and then years later, there was a dramatic drop in the prices of these same products. If we think about it carefully, we realize that many consumer products have experienced the same phenomenon: microwave ovens, washing machines, dishwashers, coffee makers… these examples of consumer products were once considered luxury products, even external signs of wealth, whereas today, we can say that even the most modest households have them.

We must therefore be satisfied with these income inequalities, which ultimately allow the richest to be able to afford the products of their choice at any price, but also promote access to certain products for the most disadvantaged. Therefore, let us not be jealous of the richest, on the contrary, let us leave room for these income inequalities, which can ultimately bring happiness to the entire American population.

Although the United States has come a long way since the days of slavery and enormous progress was made to provide equal rights on the basis of race in the 1960s, racism remains a very critical issue in the United States. The United States is still being talked about in terms of racial or gender discrimination. Based on the article ‘The war against the poor instead of programs to end poverty. ‘1992, Herbert J. Ganz says ‘blacks’ troubles and misbehavior are caused more by poverty than by race’ he explains the discrimination made to black people is made because of criminalities coming from black people that are more elevated than those from white people. Herbert J. Gans discusses racial discrimination, there are numerous inequalities that are made because of antecedents, that is, problems caused by black people in the past, and which sometimes explain that today, our thoughts or writings result from a too hasty and not objective analysis of the facts

It is true that many black Americans have been responsible for a large number of violations and that their reputation has obviously been damaged. This bad reputation has created stereotypes imposed on innocent people which, unfortunately for them, has only hindered or even prevented them from having a normal life.

This history has made it impossible for the African-American community to reach positions of high responsibility, which would have allowed them to own property, finance education for their children, and provide them with a good education that teaches them respect, manners and a taste for work. Unfortunately, their lives are quite the opposite for a large majority of them. Their daily lives are even filled with discrimination that is done in a subtle or direct way. It is not uncommon for blacks to face discriminatory thoughts. In order to stop these racial discriminations, personalities such as Oprah Winfrey are fighting and mobilizing to stop judging a person first by their skin colour. It is necessary that as many black people as possible fight for freedom and to put an end to all these prejudices about black people. The best example that has been synonymous with success and hope for black people is Barack Obama. His election was such a revolution among Americans both on the side of his political ideas but especially because he was the first black president of the United States. This postponement cannot continue without mentioning the Latin American community, which has experienced many problems concerning unemployment or even loss of income. We can see that the same phenomenon is happening among African Americans. Since the beginning of the Great Recession, there has been a dramatic increase in unemployment and loss of income.

According to TED data: The economics Daily, ‘The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.’ (2011), the annual unemployment rate is 16% for Blacks in 2010 and 2011. This increase in unemployment for blacks is due to an escalation of failures: the lack of a diploma makes it difficult to find a job or even to hope in the company’s hierarchy. About 50% of unemployed Blacks were unemployed for more than six months in 2011, the highest long-term unemployment rate among racial/ethnic groups. In addition, many racial discriminations also show a great lack of care, health care. From the article ‘Us: Country of inequalities’ (2016) written V. Campos, who says that life expectancy depends first and foremost on the race and ethnicity of residents, which can vary up to 30 years depending on the level of poverty, i.e. the person’s social class.

Indeed, according to a study by the Brooklyn institution, the gap is becoming increasingly large.

The United States ranks in the top countries with the lowest life expectancy in the world: according to an OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) report published in 2014, it was 78.7 years in 2012, 27th out of 34 industrialized democracies in the group. Inequality begins at the birth of African-American people, or the poor. Being born black is almost perceived by society as a handicap. Despite some provisions, there are still many disparities, for example in the field of health. Indeed, health care costs are far too high for most of them in relation to their low income.

And for those who have no income, society does not offer them a solution to heal themselves and therefore to live. It seems to us to be very clear that health should be treated equally in the eyes of all, but because of their origin, there are discriminations and a different consideration towards them. Surprisingly, the United States spends an average of $9,000 per person on health care, which represents more than 17% of the gross domestic product. (At least 50% more than in any other country). However, many other countries see much better results in the overall health status of their citizens. African Americans expect above all else, affordable social security coverage that allows for the minimum amount of care in order to live a decent life. Ichiro Kawachi also says: ‘It is not only a question of racial disparities. At the root of all this is inequality of economic opportunity and inequality of education.’

Finally, regarding the job application, an experiment conducted in Chicago and Boston in 2001 and 2002 showed that resumes with ‘white sounding’ names, whether male or female, were much more likely to be recalled for interviews than those with ‘black sounding’ names (even if the resumes were otherwise identical). This is why, even in France, many recruitments are based on anonymous CVs in order to avoid any discrimination whatsoever: racial, religious…

Transition

The article ‘The psychology of social class: How socioeconomic status impacts thought, feelings, and behavior.’ (2018), written by Anthony S. R. Manstead shows that the nature of a person’s living conditions will determine their future. Indeed, it can be seen that in most cases, if a person lives, from birth, in excellent material and family conditions and in a high social environment, he or she will have much more intellectual and financial capacities to study in the best schools and then, in a second phase, this will enable him or her to obtain a profession with a very favourable income.

Based on the article ‘Extending the concept of stereotype threat to social class: The intellectual underperformance of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.’ Written by Croizet, J. C., & Claire, T. (1998), students from poor families perform less well than other students in their intellectual tasks.

This can be explained by the fact that living in disadvantaged neighborhoods in disqualified families would mean that, from an early age, children would have no role models. Unfortunately, parents often have very low-income jobs such as cleaning lady, workers…. Parents, too, have not been fortunate enough to have parents who have been socially successful and therefore do not know how to teach their children.

But even if they wanted to, they would not have the financial capacity to push their children towards success… The other problem, which is more of a psychological nature, and which slows down these poor populations and leads them towards failure: these are stereotypes! Indeed, we tend to classify people into social categories. Unfortunately, prejudice shows that we often think that poor people cannot succeed socially. It is true that the wealthier population often makes disadvantaged people feel this psychological burden. As a result, those who have lived in very poor conditions since childhood consciously or unconsciously believe that it is impossible to succeed in life and live it as a matter of course. However, when the test was presented as not diagnostic of intellectual abilities, the performance of low-income participants did not suffer, challenging allegations of income differences in intellectual abilities. This shows that the psychological effect is strong and has an impact on their thinking. The poor are followed by negative thoughts that impact their daily lives. Moreover, the place of stereotypes is so strong that it can influence people’s choices. According to the article, people belonging to the working class are unconsciously pushed back by the more intellectual professions because they lose out in advance as if they deduce that, because of their background, they will be less likely to be selected. We can talk about emotional pressure that prevents people from shining and evolving as they wish. They close themselves up in their social categories and do not decide to leave them. It is clear that differences in identity, cognition, feelings and behaviour between social classes make it more difficult for populations belonging to the most disadvantaged classes to receive financial assistance for the education of young people and professionals for adults, which would make it possible to improve their living conditions both materially, financially and also in terms of family. This is why it is necessary for political leaders to take all these inequalities into consideration in order to provide them with financial aid that would be used to create associations for young people to provide them with school, sports and educational assistance… If a real political plan were put in place for these disadvantaged populations, we would start life on an equal footing, which would allow a large number of underprivileged people to pursue a long-term education and therefore have a profession with a high income. This would also allow them to have access to high-end products or services. One can also talk about a problem of immorality; the poor are seen in a different way than other social classes.

They receive many accusations and lots of people compare them with criminals or murderers it is kind of discrimination compared to others. Just because they are poor do not mean that they are bad for society. However, this ‘persecution’ of the poor does not advance the problems of unemployment and it will not solve the financial situation.

In the United States, health inequality is linked to income inequality. Research has shown that the higher your income, the better your health.

‘The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, at least in the United States.’ According to a new document published by the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank in Washington, D.C., the 1% of high-income families earned on average 26.3 times more than the 99% of people in low-income in 2015, which has increased since 2013.This shows that income disparities have risen in almost every state. In the United States, in order to show and explain the income gaps, a family would have to earn $421,926 in before-tax dollars in order to be in the lowest paid group of people.

As seen before, it is difficult to get out of a situation of poverty because of immoral people who see the poor as unworthy people. The country has nevertheless made provisions for the middle class, but job offers, and housing are reduced, which will lead to an increase in poverty. There is an unethical side of society. The goal would be a country where everyone has safe streets, schools and public transport and a healthy environment in all districts as we saw in the article called ‘A Great Time to Be Alive?’ written Iglesias, M. (2010). In addition, concerning the wage inequalities between men and women in the USA, the gap remains very large. According to a study by the Pew Research Center from the article ‘The narrowing, but persist, gender gap in pay’ (2018) by N. Graf, A. Brown and E. Patten, for women’s wages to be equivalent to men’s, 39 more hours would be required. Education, occupational segregation and work experience are factors that have caused such a difference between men and women. The narrowing of the gap is largely due to the gains made by women in each of these dimensions. Women fight again and again to fight against its discrimination. Many women have become leaders, with high responsibilities that prove that every woman is as capable as a man of assuming and running a business. We can mention Angela Merkel who is seen as one of the most powerful women in the world. Also, Sheryl Sandberg who is the COO of Facebook and so many other women who are synonymous with influence and power in this world.

To conclude, this report shows many income inequalities that are the trigger for several inequalities such as education and health care. Income inequality between men and women is an important issue, in 2019, many are fighting to reduce this phenomenon in companies.

Inequality can be defined as the condition of being unequal; when there is an inequality something is off balance. It relates to unequal opportunities in society or between societies where some people have significantly more money, access to education, opportunities etc.(Allen and Blakely,2014.p.13). It relates to the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society. Perceptions also play a fundamental role in producing inequalities.

Inequalities persist in society through the perceptions people have about what is and is not acceptable for them: people have perceptions of places where they feel they belong, and places where they might feel excluded. John Arthur gives a good example of how inequality is driven by perceptions. As highlighted by (The Open University, 2019) John had a troubled childhood, and a history of alcoholism and homelessness. His story focuses not only personal misfortune but reveals patterns of inequalities that are shared by others. Factors such as being taken into care, alcoholism, being unemployed and being in prison have connections to homelessness and the economic inequality which characterises being homeless.

City Road provides a good basis when looking at what is required to make social order work effectively, and also provides examples of the ways in which it can be disrupted and how social order gets remade through disorder. Staples (2014,p.96) explains that a lot of ordering is subtle ordering: our understanding of what constitutes social order is internalised and we are socialised into acting in particular ways. On City Road this can be seen in the way in which the mother teaches her daughter to cross the road safely, and her interaction with the van driver who stops for them: they acknowledge each other. This negotiation is a form of subtle social order.

A further example is that of the anarchists who occupy Gaiety Cinema; they demonstrated a different type of order. Not only were they contesting the existing social order but were also promoting inequalities because the squatters have their own social order and sense of community.

They suffer disadvantages as they felt powerless and had a lack of health resources, and are occupying the empty building in protest of the inequality of homelessness. They choose to occupy the premises, but society would label them as homeless as they do not have a permanent address. They challenge the current model of social order and claim to represent an alternative model. Their ‘Gremlins’ philosophy of freedom of sharing claims that although the building is owned by somebody else it is not being used so they have an anarchistic right to it. They feel that society is restraining them, refusing them the freedom to use that building.

A further example is that of the privately employed bouncers at the night club. Their purpose was to impose order by placing restrictions on who can enter. They were perceived as holding authority through their policing of the area, however they are not law enforcement officers. They wear uniforms, which signal that they are performing a particular role in terms of ordering whilst they work. However this could be perceived as an inequality: the students felt that they were being judged on their age and appearance. They felt unequal because they may not be able to afford the sort of clothes required; losing this right over what they can wear demonstrates how their personal equality has been removed. (Blakeley and Staples, 2014,p.88). Although students feel that the bouncers like to act intimidating and that they think they are above everyone else, they usually accept their decisions, see they are necessary as they increase safety, and are there to kick drunk people out. This is a good example of how social order is maintained in drinking premises. The use of bouncers can enforce good behaviour but can also be resented.

In conclusion, this essay has defined inequality and has highlighted that John, the bouncers and the anarchists are all examples of ordering in City Road. It has demonstrated that there are many different ways in which ordering takes place, some of which are assumed and some of which are more observable, such as the activities of the bouncers. It has highlighted the variation in perceptions of order and disorder. Order can be maintained in different ways: through monitoring peoples behaviour, through laws and regulations, through the use of material objects to encourage or restrict particular behaviours such as; traffic light systems, and by encouraging people to monitor themselves. Different interpretations of order can result from differing perceptions of what is considered orderly or disorderly behaviour and these are influenced by factors such as sexuality, race, gender, age, ethnicity and class.

Do you believe we are living in an equal world, where everyone gets the same treatment, and the same wages? Racism is a worldwide issue, especially in multi-ethnic societies, and places such as the UK, the USA, and much more. The issue of racism stems from the fact that people separate themselves from others using attributes such as skin color. While equality is a thing people long for, the mindset of most people always have an assumption of people based on racial factors. The issue of racism can be portrayed in many ways, some subtle, and some forthright. These issues can be ranging from things such as lower pay based on the ethnic group of said person to things such as false imprisonment based on racial profiling. While efforts have been made for racial equality such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, many people still harbor hate or show discrimination to others because of their different skin tones. People all around the world, try every day to make the lives of people easier. Many people today are ignorant of the harsh circumstances a person of color have to go through just to be accepted by the major public. However, any person today has the opportunity to make a change, and help promote this issue, no matter how small a contribution they make. This is a very serious problem, and many people should be thinking about the importance of promoting racial equality.

There are many ways to go about promoting racial equality, that can be achieved by ordinary people who don’t have much authority in their community or city. For example, a statistic taken by a research center shows that “about half of Americans say it would be very effective for groups working to help blacks achieve equality to work directly with community members to solve problems in their communities (49%)” (Pew Research Center, 2016). This quote shows us a method of promoting racial equality, saying that working with community members to help solve issues about black inequality, according to a statistic by the source, is a very effective solution to a problem. This means that working with others to promote racial equality is a widely accepted solution that is being used. A reason why working with a community might be better than working by yourself is that you have different people of different backgrounds working on one idea. This could result in you having many perspectives to seeing the problem, making finding the best solution easier. Working with people would also increase the rate of promoting ideas like racial equality because you could work with people who come from different ethnic backgrounds, to come and help spread your ideas, this would be much more efficient than one person of one ethnic background promoting an issue which involves many people of many different races. Another reason would be that working as a community gives you the manpower to do more ambitious projects such as starting funds for projects involving racial equality, or to raise awareness to children by doing community-based activities. This can also be spread using the next idea coming up.

Secondly, another method to help promote racial equality is using social media. A very successful example of this is the #BlackLivesMatter movement on twitter, a social media platform. The hashtag was formed after a man called Trayvon Martin was killed. The hashtag exploded in popularity and is a way for young children, and adults alike to express their concern about racial inequality. A study has shown the amount of times this hashtag has been used: “From July 2013 through May 1, 2018, the hashtag has been used nearly 30 million times on Twitter, an average of 17,002 times per day, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of public tweets” (Pew Research Center, 2018). These numbers show just how much social media can be used to promote an issue, in this case, racial equality. There are a great number of benefits of using social media as your platform for promoting racial equality. Such as anyone being able to anonymously send messages or post pictures promoting racial equality. Another benefit is the sheer amount of people you can reach your message out to, “ These numbers are huge – there are 7.7 billion people in the world, with 3.5 billion of us online. This means social media platforms are used by one-in-three people in the world, and more than two-thirds of all internet users” (Ortiz-Ospina, 2019). This quote shows the staggering amount of people you are able to spread your message to. However, social media does have its drawbacks. You can be subject to harassment from hate groups, or from people who don’t favor your opinions about racial inequality. If people manage to offend the original poster of said content, they can always be reported to the correct authorities so they can receive the proper consequences. Social media is a very powerful tool that can impact the world every day. Famous figures in social media, can and do spread the message of racial equality, and their millions of followers are influenced by their words. It is an essential tool to reach out to a larger audience and to push children using the platform towards a more open-minded path. As a normal person, while you may get some social media attention, you don’t actually hold any power to make a significant difference by yourself, the next idea addresses this issue.

Finally, the final method that will be presented to promote racial diversity is through helping organizations to stop racism, and promote racial equality. An organization helping people of color would be the NAACP, “The NAACP is focused on such issues as inequality in jobs, education, health care and the criminal justice system, as well as protecting voting rights.” (History.com Editors, 2019) The NAACP stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and has done many accomplishments and it is progressing towards reaching their goal. There are many ways of supporting these organizations, this is possible through donations, volunteering, or if you have the time and commitment you can join these organizations, and help the minorities on a larger scale than many people can. These organizations support the people of color in many ways that a single person can’t. This is similar to working with community members, but an organization such as the NAACP is much bigger and has more power over a community. They promote racial equality and have a set of goals for setting a bright future for those of color, “At the turn of the 21st century, the NAACP sponsored campaigns against youth violence, encouraged economic enterprise among African Americans, and led voter drives to increase participation in the political process.” (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019) . These organizations need support and money if they are going to make a significant positive change to the society of the people of color. Many of these organizations are non-profit organizations, which don’t use their money for themselves, but they are used only on their organization, to help grow the organization, and to help make more progress towards their goals of helping the people of color.

Social inequality is characterized by the presence of unequal opportunities or rewards for different social positions and statuses within a group or society. It is not a new topic but rather a topic that has been big for many centuries. In the past, inequality was seen as a normal everyday part of society. However, nowadays inequality is a topic that has been brought to many people’s attention. Inequality requires attention because it involves how women are treated, gender issues, and racial concerns.

Inequality does not just occur in one area or region, it is a global issue. There are other issues that essentially lead to different types of inequality. According to the PASCAL International Observatory, there are four key points to the causes of inequality. The first one is that there is not enough access to education for women. It is stated that education can help empower women to deal with adversity, and it can improve the health and economic wellbeing in families and communities. Secondly, innovation is the center of enduring prosperity and where nations, communities, and organizations have fostered free enterprise on a consistent basis, livelihoods of people thrive. Inequality has risen with financial sector over-expansion, weak social policies and without the skills to remain useful, people are deprived of opportunities, creating a massive underclass. Historical processes such as wars, industrialization, colonization, as well as current trade arrangements, financial systems, and global politics impact inequality between nations, individuals and groups within countries.

Women have faced inequality for a long time. It has brought about many protests, organizations, and amazing feminist activists. In 1957, the Saudi Arabian government banned women from driving (Oct26Driving). The fight to remove the ban has been going on since the 1990s. The first major protest occurred on November 6, 1990. On this day, 47 women drove through the capital. The women that participated in this protest were all imprisoned, they had their passports taken away, and many of them lost their jobs. The people who have shaped the Women To Drive Movement put their own safety and freedom at risk. An example of this would be Wajeha al-Huwaider. On International Women’s Day in 2008, she made the bold decision to film herself driving and post it on Youtube. One of the reasons why the Saudi Arabian government banned women from driving is because they claim driving affects the ovaries which could result in birth defects. Saudi Arabia (World Economic Forum). Another example of this would be that there is a law stating that every female must have a male guardian. It is usually a male family member up until the woman gets married. The women must get permission from their guardian to do certain things such as travel, get an education, get a job, and even open a bank account. Women are also required to make sure that all of their body (with the exception of their hands and eyes) is covered whenever they are out in public.

Feminism is a very important term and aspect when it comes to gender equality. The changes that are brought by feminism not only benefit women but benefit men as well. “Feminism has been characterized by the tendency of reassurance” (Evans 80). Some feminists argue that feminism is about bringing changes that are beneficial not only to women but also to men then making feminism less threatening and more palatable to a broader range of people. According to Plank, the author of 23 Ways Feminism Has Made the World a Better Place, the integration of women into the workforce after World War II resulted in massive macroeconomic gains. Since females make up about half of the workforce, their integration has had a positive ripple effect on all industries. Women are getting more opportunities than ever. The world is evolving for the better. However, just because the world is evolving, that does not mean that it is perfect. Women across countries are still being abused and tortured. According to Ackerman, while it is true that women worldwide are seeing more opportunities than ever before, the Summit reported data outlining the situations and environments that women still face each day. She stated that in Somalia, 95% of girls experience genital mutilation and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 1,000 women are raped each day. With that being stated, there is always room for growth. While one are may be thriving, another may need a little bit more attention and help.

National income, instead of going towards the poor or the less fortunate, more of the national income has been going to the rich. This is not a newer topic because a big impact on global income-inequality was World War II which began in 1939 and ended in 1945. World War II had a lasting impact on economic inequality. The policies that were put in place after World War II affected countries in different ways. The countries and regions that did not experience any post-war effects had higher levels of inequality. Since 1980, the share of national income going to the richest 1 percent has increased rapidly in North America, China, India, and Russia, and more moderately in Europe. World Inequality Lab researchers note that this period coincides with the rollback in these countries and regions of various post-World War II policies aimed at narrowing economic divides. By contrast, countries, and regions that did not experience a post-war egalitarian, such as the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, and Brazil, have had relatively stable, but extremely high levels of inequality (Global Inequality).

History has more of an effect on inequality than most people think. Countries all have a different history which leads to different advancements or non-advancements. “Global inequality is the consequence of two centuries of unequal progress. Some places have seen dramatic improvements, but others have not. It is on us today to even the odds and give everyone, no matter where they are born, the chance of a good life. This is not only right but, as you will see below, it is also realistic. Our hope for giving the next generations the chance to live a good life lies in broad development that makes possible for everyone what is only attainable for a few today” (Global Inequality of Opportunity). To many people, it is seen as unfair that some are able to enjoy a wealthy lifestyle while others live continuous poverty. For some, it is the inequality in the outcomes of people’s lives that matter and for others, it is the inequality in the opportunity that is unfair.

While there are still countries struggling with inequality, there are many people and groups fighting for change. Just one topic can change the entire dynamic of a community. Inequality requires attention regardless of where it occurs. It involves how women are treated, gender issues, and racial concerns.

Anthony Barnes Atkinson is the author of the book ‘’Inequality’’ that sets out fifteen proposals to reduce inequality. I will be evaluating two of these proposals and ways in which achieving these proposals will help to reduce inequality. The first proposal I will be evaluating concerns technological change and the importance of maintaining human capital despite the growth in technology. The second proposal I will be evaluating is the effect of reducing unemployment through public employment and minimum wage. Both proposals are set out to reduce inequality but to what extent will they work or make a difference?

The first proposal by Atkinson suggests that the rate of growth of technology and artificial intelligence is increasing unemployment in various sectors. In other words, in order to solve inequality, we need to innovate and improve our production outputs using and maintaining human labour as opposed to solely relying on technology.

First of all, advances in information technology have undoubtedly increased the demand for skilled workers pushing us into a world of K – intensive economies that are highly automized in their ability to produce goods and services. While we are finding new innovative ways to produce goods and services, there has been a decline in the demand for unskilled workers and an increase in unaided capital. Many arguments suggest that investments in robots provide higher quality to the production of our goods and services. A knock-on effect of this is the initial rise in employment as there in an increase in demand for workers to be highly educated to contribute to the innovation of artificial intelligence and technology. Additionally, Atkinson states that less political drama concerning trade unions and strikes would take place as there is less human interaction meaning a constant high quality of production would take place increasing possible production possibilities for an economy. However, Atkinson possesses a concern when it comes technological changes and understands that there should be a concern as to how this is affecting citizens employment and inequality. Instantly, one of the issues that policy makers are not considering is the lack of human contact. Many professions require communication such as the health care industry or education. In the event of growing technological change, is society leaving room for human interaction? If so, should we limit technological change in some sectors in order to control the amount of human interaction that is integral to our personal health and education? Aside from this, the concept of growing inequality is highly apparent as growing technological changes leaving unemployment a high risk for those with mid – level skills. Due to this, income inequality is rising due to a gap between those highly skilled workers through manual intervention and between those who are not needed for jobs that technology is occupying. How do we ‘encourage innovation in the form that increases employability’? First of all, policy makers need to accept the rising inequality technology creates due to the skill bias nature leading to structural unemployment and geographical immobility. However, if policy makers understand the need for increasing employability of workers alongside growing technology, then measures can be put in place to educate and train workers so they can have the opportunity to become geographically mobile or more skilled in the event of growing technological changes. This can be done by training workers to become more versatile and skilled so they can adapt to change in technological production. This enables an economy to sustain employment and encourage a highly skilled workforce that can develop transferrable skills across various sectors.

A second proposal Atkinson suggests to reduce inequality is that ‘’the government should adopt an explicit target for preventing and reducing unemployment and underpin this ambition by offering guaranteed public employment at the minimum wage to those who seek it’’ (Atkinson, 2015). This proposal is an attempt to bridge the gap between the employed and unemployed by ultimately making sure all citizens are paid a wage. This increases fairness and allows all citizens to have access to their own disposable income leaving less of a need for government intervention and benefit schemes. This also boosts local and regional economic growth as people are given the opportunity to work and therefore earning a minimum wage incentivises them to work. Guaranteed public employment reduces the rate of unemployment thus helping to control the macroeconomic objective of stabilising unemployment while also injecting money back into the economy through consumer spending. On top of this, the proposal of offering employment at minimum wage increases social stability within an economy meaning workers will be motivated to increase their skill and training over time to ensure a stable income which then ultimately boosts employment and skill within an economy which can then contribute to the growing human capital and intelligence that is fundamental to reducing inequality. This is because the government are giving all citizens an equal opportunity to earn a wage and become skilled in a certain sector. This increases worker confidence and therefore bridges the gap between those who are employed and those who are unemployed.

Ensuring citizens that are employed and earning a minimum wage allows for people to join the labour market and offer their labour is return for income and wealth. Narrowing the gap between the employed and the unemployed evens the distribution of income and also improve labour productivity and efficient which directly correlates to the supply of goods and services an economy holds which then contributes to other macro-economic objectives such as GDP and international trade.

To conclude, the two proposals I chose to discuss have evidence to support that they will contribute to a reduction of inequality. Making sure there are jobs for human capital alongside new technology through training, education and human interaction allows the workforce to stay employed, build transferrable skills and become versatile amongst all sectors. This proposal along with ensuring jobs with minimum wage ensures that the macro economic objective of unemployment is being monitored while also given citizens the opportunity to earn a healthy wage that can be injected back into the economy.

According to C. Wright Mills (1959), the sociological imagination refers to the ability to understand that one’s own issues are not merely caused by one’s owns beliefs and thoughts, but by society and its structures. An issue that many people, including myself, face and are affected by daily is crime. According to the Oxford Dictionary (2019), crime is an action that is viewed as an offence and results in punishment by the law. According to Bhorat, Lilenstein, Monnakgotla, Thornton and Van der Zee (2017), South Africa holds some of the highest reported crime statistics in the world and according to Bhorat et al. (2017), four important factors contributing to high statistics of crime in South Africa include unemployment, prevailing inequality, differing income levels and education.

Mills (1959) notes that the life of an individual cannot be understood without understanding the history of their society. He notes that the sociological imagination allows its owner to understand the greater historical scene and what it means for their inner life as well as the outer position of many other individuals (Mills, 1959). According to Draper, M et al. (2016), the sociological imagination observes the relations between what appear to be the personal and private problems of the individual, and larger social issues. Mills (1959) calls this the distinction between troubles and issues, and further considers it an important tool of the sociological imagination. Most importantly, he refers to issues as ‘the public issues of social structure’ (Mills 1959, pp. 4), highlighting the importance of social structures and institutions.

As previously mentioned, Mills (1959) refers to issues as ‘public’. He notes that issues have to do with matters that surpass an individual’s personal control and the range of their inner life, and are concerning society’s organizations and processes (Mills, 1959). Crime is an example of an issue, and unemployment in South Africa specifically is one of the major factors contributing to crime. According to Bhorat et al. (2017), South Africa has some of the highest rates of unemployment in the world. These high levels of unemployment decrease the possibility of earning a legal income, and strain theorists argue that people commit crimes due to the frustration of not being able to achieve their goals through legitimate means, Bhorat et al. (2017) further note.

Langa, a township in the Western Cape where I stay, for example, is a high crime area. A large proportion of the people who commit the crime are young people, who, according to Stats SA (2019), “are the most vulnerable in the South African labour market as the unemployment rate among this age group was 55,2% in the 1st quarter of 2019”. Stats SA (2019) also notes that the graduate unemployment rate stays lower than the rate amid those with other levels of education. However, most of the youth in Langa do not go on to university, or better yet finish their secondary education.

According to Mauli and Ross (2018), while education has been identified as a way out of poverty, for many, black South Africans, lack of resources and the lingering effects of apartheid often interfere with equal opportunities and quality tertiary education. Therefore, with the difficulty of obtaining employment and lessened opportunities of tertiary education for the young black child in South Africa, it is more likely that he will commit crime due to the frustration of not being able to achieve his life goals via legitimate means, as strain theorists pointed out. As previously mentioned, the lingering legacy of apartheid means the hindering of equal opportunity, which is inequality.

According to Bhorat et al. (2016), South Africa also has extremely high inequality according to global standards. According to Scott (2019), even though democracy has afforded freedom to all South Africans, not much has changed for those living in the country’s vast townships. The World Bank (2018) adds that South Africa stays the most economically unequal country in the world in spite of 25 years of democracy, while Scott (2019) states that the rainbow nation is currently divided even more than it was in 1994. She adds that in countless ways, the legacy of Apartheid continues. Previously disadvantaged South Africans possess fewer assets, fewer skills, earn lower wages and are still more likely to be unemployed, found World Bank (2018).

According to Scott, the black population in South Africa holds the highest poverty levels, followed by the coloured population. Settings and Nattrass (2005) point out that state policies during Apartheid in South Africa influenced inequality by limiting the opportunities available to black people. Business opportunities were restricted for black people and they entered the job market with big disadvantages due to discriminatory expenditure on education, according to Settings and Nattrass (2005). The ‘colour bar’ inhibited them from getting jobs that paid them better, despite them having the appropriate skills and experience (Settings and Nattrass, 2005). Black people were also stripped of their property and given inferior health care, according to Settings and Nattrass (2005).

The results of such inequality are still prevalent in South Africa no surprise that the black and poor are often the most vulnerable to look to crime due to the frustration of living in poverty and lessened access to opportunities that will enable them to better their lives. This phenomenon explains the high levels of crime in Western Cape’s townships such as mine, Langa, where the majority is previously disadvantaged and endures the effects of apartheid, such as poverty and so looks to other opportunities open to them to improve their conditions, such as crime. Bhorat et al. (2017) note that people are more likely to commit a crime in the face of poverty, frustration and other criminogenic influences, such as income differences.

With inequality and unemployment subsequently being the results of income differences respectively, Bhorat et al. (2017) heed that incomes are extremely low for most South Africans. Bhorat et al. (2017) consider that, for example, statistics in 2010 showed that almost more than half of South African households live below the upper-level poverty line, while more than a third lives below the lower level poverty line. Furthermore, according to Bhorat et al. (2017), there are major differences in poverty levels between racial groups, with a large majority of black people living below the poverty line, followed by Coloureds. Therefore, according to Bhorat et al. (2017), a large number of people struggle to meet their basic survival needs in South Africa.

The National Income Dynamics Study (2019) heeds that White South Africans earn almost three times more than the average wage of black people in South Africa. According to Seekings and Nattrass (2005), South Africa was marked by racial discrimination in the job market for nearly the whole of the twentieth century. This racial discrimination, according to Seekings and Nattrass (2005), included numerous measures to produce a supply of cheap African labour as well as restrict the occupational flexibility of black people. Through the colour bar, skilled jobs were reserved for white people, and white workers were allowed to control the industrial wage-setting machinery.

Today, black South Africans are still the most affected by the structures of unequal job opportunities designed by the apartheid government. In Langa, where I live, most people have many skills such as woodwork, gardening and other handjobs. Most of them did not go on to university but instead went on to colleges such as Northlink to specialize in careers such as woodwork or were just encouraged to finish school so that they could enter the informal job market immediately afterwards. Such jobs are cheap labour and pay them the minimum wage or just below it, which may lead them to also pursue crime to cover their full expenses or take care of their families, as the expected payoff from crime can be much higher, according to Bhorat et al. (2017).

According to Bhorat et al. (2017), education is listed as another determinant of crime in the literature. Bhorat et al. (2017) noted that Jonck and others (2015) observed that individuals are more likely to commit a crime if they drop out of school before completing their formal education. They add that the number of people with an incomplete secondary school in prison exceeds the number of people without completed secondary education in the general population. As Stats SA (2019) suggested as well, unemployment continues to affect the youth the most but affects graduates the least compared to those with lower educational levels.

According to Seekings and Nattrass (2005), education for black children under apartheid was of poor quality and was poorly funded. The average amount spent on education for the black majority was far less than the average amount spent on the white minority, according to Seekings and Nattrass (2005). According to Maila and Ross (2018), via the policies of Bantu education, black people were provided with an inferior education to sustain their inferior and marginalized position in the country. The results of such an educational system are still observable today, as the PIRLS reported that South Africans displayed the lowest reading literacy levels of 40 countries studied. (Mullis, Martin, Kennedy & Foy, 2007, cited in Maila and Ross, 2018).

According to Rohleder et al., 2008, cited in Maila and Ross (2018), disadvantaged rural and township communities are still left to experience inferior and limited services. Therefore, with the poor quality education that decreases their affordance of going to university or getting a lucrative job, most black children in the townships especially, Langa where I stay being an example, fall into the trap of crime and gangsterism as a result. This may be due to the demotivation of not finding a job at all or finding one adequate to pay the bills, boredom, hungriness and many other factors a child is exposed to in the township once when they stop school.

Crime, as Mills (1959) pointed out, is a public issue of social structure. It has to do with matters that surpass an individual’s control and are concerning society’s organizations and processes. It cannot be understood without understanding the vulnerable society’s history and instead has to be considered as an issue that has several determinants of it, such as unemployment, inequality, unequal income levels as a result, and unequal education.

Introduction

Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born as Chloe Ardelia Wofford) as known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist, editor, teacher and Robert F. Goheen Professor at Princeton University. Toni Morrison has been hailed as “ black America’s best novelist and one of America’s best.” In her own words, she writes “village” or “peasant” literature about the American black experience and culture. But she does so with language of such lyrical power and such vivid dialogue that, regardless of her subject reading her words is a genuine pleasure. Toni Morrison won the National Book Critics Award in 1977 for Song of Solomon, the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for beloved and the Noble Prize for Literature in 1993.

Summary of the book

The Bluest Eye, published in 1969, is the first of Toni Morrison’s ten novels. “It announced the arrival of one of the most important literary voices of her time and has remained for nearly thirty-five years her consistently best-read book”. Oprah’s Book Club selected The Bluest Eye in 2000, assuring its yet wider readership. The Bluest Eye is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove—a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others—who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.

Pecola’s character

Pecola is the protagonist of the book, but despite this central role she is passive and remains a mysterious character. Morrison purposely tells Pecola’s story from other points of view to keep Pecola’s dignity and, to some extent, her mystery intact. Her aim is to prevent us from labeling Pecola or thinking that we understand her. Pecola is a fragile and delicate child when the novel begins, and by the novel’s close, she has been almost completely destroyed by violence. At the beginning of the novel, her emotional life is based on two desires: first, she wants to learn how to get people to love her; second, during seeing her parents brutal fights, she simply wants to disappear. Neither wish is granted, and Pecola is forced further and further into her fantasy world, which is her only defense against the pain of her existence. She believes that being granted the blue eyes that she wishes for would change both how others see her and what she is forced to see. At the novel’s end, she delusively believes that her wish has been granted, but only at the cost of her sanity. “Pecola’s fate is a fate worse than death because she is not allowed any release from her world—she simply moves to “the edge of town, where you can see her even now.””

Pecola is also a symbol of the black community’s self-hatred and belief in its own ugliness. Others in the community, including her mother, father, and Geraldine, act out their own self-hatred by expressing hatred toward her. At the end of the novel, we are told that Pecola has been a scapegoat for the entire community. Her ugliness has made them feel beautiful, her suffering has made them feel comparatively lucky, and her silence has given them the opportunity for speaking. But because she continues to live after she has lost her mind, Pecola’s aimless wandering at the edge of town haunts the community, reminding them of the ugliness and hatred that they have tried to repress. She becomes a reminder of human cruelty and an emblem of human suffering.

1940s America

The problems of the Great Depression affected virtually every group of Americans. No group was harder hit than African Americans, however. By 1932, approximately half of black Americans were out of work. In some Northern cities, whites called for blacks to be fired from any jobs as long as there were whites out of work. Racial violence again became more common, especially in the South.

Racism is a belief in the superiority of one race to another which leads to discrimination and prejudice towards people based on their ethnicity. The life of African-American cloured people have been affected by racism. Social systems and restrictions make black people to feel inferiors. This novel is facing us with the harrowing yet but true consequences for coloured people personalizing the values of a white culture that rejects them both directly and indirectly. Even though slavery is abolished legally through the efforts of eminent leaders but still the black people are not considered equal to the whites due to their skin tone and class. The Black people are trying to identify themselves with the white and their cultural ways which is why the main character of the story, Pecola goes through having a low self-steam, mental instability and many other consequences which reflects in her daily life. Toni Morrison insists on Black cultural heritage and wants the African-Americans to be proud of their Black identity which we can partly see in Claudia and Frieda’s character. However throughout the book we can see almost every character struggle for their race and endurance in a predominantly multicultural post colonial white America, specially Pecola.

Toni Morrison is portraying the consequences of racism though Pecola’s character by narrating what does affect Pecola’s opinions, decisions and personality and how does this inequalities lead everything to a tragic fate for Pecola. Themes such as ” Whiteness as the Standard of Beauty”, “Seeing versus Being Seen”, “Sexual Initiation and Abuse”, “Satisfying Appetites versus Suppressing Them” are seen in the book and we can gradually see what are the consequences of racial inequality through out the book.

Symbols

The house

The novel begins with a sentence from a Dick-and-Jane narrative: “Here is the house.” Homes not only indicate socioeconomic status in this novel, but they also symbolize the emotional situations and values of the characters who inhabit them. The Breedlove apartment is miserable and decrepit, suffering from Mrs. Breedlove’s preference for her employer’s home over her own and symbolizing the misery of the Breedlove family. The MacTeer house is drafty and dark, but it is carefully tended by Mrs. MacTeer and, according to Claudia, filled with love, symbolizing that family’s comparative cohesion.

Bluest Eye(s)

To Pecola, blue eyes symbolize the beauty and happiness that she associates with the white, middle-class world. They also come to symbolize her own blindness, for she gains blue eyes only at the cost of her sanity. The “bluest” eye could also mean the saddest eye. Furthermore, eye puns on I, in the sense that the novel’s title uses the singular form of the noun (instead of The Bluest Eyes) to express many of the characters’ sad isolation.

The Marigolds

Claudia and Frieda associate marigolds with the safety and well-being of Pecola’s baby. Their ceremonial offering of money and the remaining unsold marigold seeds represents an honest sacrifice on their part. They believe that if the marigolds they have planted grow, then Pecola’s baby will be all right. More generally, marigolds represent the constant renewal of nature. In Pecola’s case, this cycle of renewal is perverted by her father’s rape of her.

Morrison writes about how many African Americans could not own a home and were constantly threatened by the fear of being ‘outdoors.’ Owned homes are described as ‘hothouse sunflowers among the rows of weeds that were the rented houses.’ Renters may be reluctant to plant seeds in the ground when the landlord could evict them at any moment. Poorer people have less money and time to lavish on growing abundant displays of flowers. The flowers most consistently mentioned in Claudia and Pecola’s neighborhood are sunflowers, which grow easily and produce edible seeds, and dandelions, which are weeds.

Contrast those images with the description of the stable African American communities described in ‘Seethecat.’ Morrison describes the girls ‘who have looked long at hollyhocks … their roots are deep.’ These communities have bountiful gardens: ‘rooster combs and sunflowers … pots of bleeding heart, ivy, and mother-in-law tongue line the steps.’ Morrison shows the reader abundant gardens in African American homes to make her point: in the proper environment, anyone can grow flowers. Morrison mimics this idea by identifying fake flowers—paper flowers, flower-printed clothes, and so on—in nicer homes, such as Geraldine’s house and the home of Mrs. Breedlove’s employer. Note Mrs. Breedlove’s employer has a wheelbarrow full of flowers in the front yard, a symbol of opulence known throughout the neighborhood.

At the end of the book Morrison returns to the imagery of seeds and flowers. Referring to Claudia’s community, she says, ‘This soil is bad for certain kinds of flowers.’ Morrison wants the reader to see the lack of growth as a symptom of racial oppression: neither people nor plants can grow healthily in such an environment.

Movie Stars

The movies were a major influence on popular culture in 1941. Throughout the book, characters refer to movie stars in an admiring way. Pecola idolizes the child star Shirley Temple, a little blond girl with blue eyes and a sunny disposition who was extremely popular in the 1930s. Mr. Henry teases Frieda and Claudia by calling them Greta Garbo and Ginger Rogers, the names of two movie stars famous for their glamour and their beautiful (white) faces. Greta Garbo was an exotic beauty who usually starred in romantic films, while Ginger Rogers was a famous dancer who often performed in musicals. Later in Pauline’s chapter, she describes how she aspired to be as beautiful as a movie star until her tooth fell out.

Any girl or woman in the 1940s might aspire to be Shirley Temple, Greta Garbo, or Ginger Rogers. But for the female characters in The Bluest Eye, these images also represent the unattainable goals society has given them. Pecola and Claudia will never look like Shirley Temple or Greta Garbo, and that should not be their ambition. Few girls or women of any ethnicity will look like movie stars, but it is even harder for African American girls to achieve the appearance of movie stars of the era, who were almost exclusively white and certainly not African American.

Beauty

beauty appears in the text it refers to a white baby doll. Claudia says she would like to ‘dismember it … to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped me, but apparently only me.’ Beauty and beautiful are used multiple times in this chapter, always in reference to the dolls Claudia did not want. She is told every little girl wants a blond-haired, blue-eyed doll, and something must be wrong with her if she does not. Claudia learns the dominant societal attitude (white is better than black) from her African American family. Claudia struggles against these attitudes, but Pecola does not fight them at all.

Morrison tells the reader Pecola’s family is ugly because they believe they are ugly. Movingly, Pecola wonders if having ‘pretty’ blue eyes could lead her family to behave in a ‘prettier’ way. Pecola identifies other attractive features of her face: ‘her teeth were good’—unlike Mrs. Breedlove’s—and ‘her nose was not big and flat like some of those who were thought so cute.’ In bits and pieces Pecola can see herself as attractive, but without the unattainable blue eyes Pecola believes she will never be beautiful. Morrison says Pecola ‘would never know her beauty’ because she is so convinced of the necessity of blue eyes, which again remind the reader of how society formulates beauty: it requires a white person’s features.

Morrison consistently uses the word beauty to refer to the unattainable. Claudia says they resent Maureen because she possesses ‘the Thing that made her beautiful, and not us.’ Again Maureen has lighter skin and light-colored eyes, so she can achieve beauty while the other girls cannot. Beauty is also used to refer to concrete objects that are out of the girls’ scope of experience. When Pecola is in Geraldine’s house, Morrison twice describes the surroundings as ‘beautiful.’ Soaphead Church, whose family had an elevated social standing, collects objects of beauty. Again the message: beauty is out of reach for the average African American. Beauty is for white people and a few lucky African Americans.

Morrison says Mrs. Breedlove connected ‘physical beauty with virtue,’ which inspired ‘self-contempt.’ Mrs. Breedlove sees beauty every day in her employer’s house, but she keeps it separate. It is not part of her home or her children. The implication is they are not good enough to possess beauty—Mrs. Breedlove’s twisted binding together of beauty and virtue. This is also part of the dominant societal construction of beauty: white equals beautiful and beautiful equals good, therefore black equals ugly and ugly equals bad.

This message is destructive, Morrison warns. When Mrs. Breedlove learns about ‘physical beauty’ from the movies, Morrison calls it ‘probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought.’ It is destructive because so often beauty is defined by ugliness. Near the end of the novel Claudia says, ‘We were so beautiful when we stood astride her ugliness.’ Pecola helped them see their own beauty because she could not see hers, but what a sacrifice she made. Morrison wants all people to recognize their inherent beauty, which is something she believes many African Americans are ill-equipped to do.

Bigger Thomas is African-American from Chicago who is convicetd of the rape and murder of a white women. Bigger Thomas is also a man who lives in poverty and is uneducated. It’s the 1930’s in Chicago and a family of four is living in a cramped apartment on the south side in a neighborhood known as “The Black Belt”. Bigger’s mother insists he take the job with Daltons, a wealthy white family who have offered him a way to live outside of making plans to rob a white man’s store. Bigger becomes fearful and doesn’t follow through and instead goes to the interview for the job. Bigger can’t take it anymore and he does something that would change his life forever. Hiding the remains, asking for money and being on the run. Bigger eventually gets caught after yet another homicide. Bigger Thomas got a job as a chauffeur with the Daltons and he ends up killing their daughter and he is trying to get money out of it to better support his family. In Native Son, poverty, fear, and racism have the greatest impact on Bigger’s perspective by acknowledging how fast things can change someone’s life for the worst based on the way they are living and their color.

For starters, poverty plays such a big role in Bigger’s life because he struggles financially and would do anything for his family to see them not struggle anymore. Bigger Thomas suffers from Poverty that his family lives in a cramped up apartment they have to turn around when the girls are changing and vise versa that he feels he is the sole one that can take his family out of that situation and into a better one. ”Three of us’ll go in, see? One of us’ll throw a gun at old Blum; one of us’ll make for the cash box under the counter; one of us’ll make for the back door and have it open so we can make a quick get-away down the back alley. . . That’s all” (Wright,24). “… and the tiny, one-room apartment galvanized into violent action” (Wright, 4). Bigger at this point is planning to rob Blum’s so that he can get money for his family. They are born into poverty and find it extremely difficult to get themselves out of it. Bigger Thomas and his family clearly portray a typical family stuck in the ways of poverty. The Dalton’s offer jobs to African Americans so he is definitely helping their society. The problem is that he is only helping one out of hundreds of people. He cannot end poverty through one person. Bigger will do anything to help his family good or bad.

Similarly, fear is a huge role that Bigger experiences after commiting murder he takes precatuion so he doesn’t get caught. Bigger knows that he’s killed Mary and now his goal is to blame someone else and for that he needs to be careful with what he says and does. ”Fingerprints! He had read about them in the magazines” (Wright, 88). “Quickly, he wrapped the head in newspapers and used the wad to push the bloody trunk of the body deeper into the furnace. Then shoved the head in. The hatchet went next” (Wright,92). Bigger kills Mary and he feels power because he had killed a white woman. Fear also plays an important role in the way that society is organized in the way that it is the white people who fear the black people which causes them to seek the control of them.

Equally important, racism is a big part of the way that Bigger views the way that the world works. Racism is a bad thing that is very unfair because the color of skin determines everything which isn’t right because some get better treatment than others. ”They would say he had raped her and there would be no way to prove that he did not” (Wright, 227). “The people in Ernie’s Kitchen Shack knew him and he did not want them to see him with theses white people” (Wright, 71). The color of his skin is the reason why they said he raped her. If he murdered a person of the same color they wouldn’t have made it a big deal. If a White kills a White then nothing will happen. African-Americans are in the suffering of economic oppression and forced to act compliant before their dictator, while the media consistently portrays them as animals. However, Wright emphasizes the vicious double-edged effect of racism. Bigger’s violence grows from racial hatred, it only increases racism in American society, as it confirms racist whites basic fears about blacks.

Thus, the way that Biggers life changed at a very fast pace was unexpected even for him and that just shows how one’s actions need to be taken serious because one bad one and the whole thing can come tumbling down. Bigger working for the Daltons and making 25 a week was good enough to support him and his family but didn’t matter to him he wanted to live better and ended up killing but not for money at first it was accidental but after realizing the position of power he was in he wanted money. In Native Son, poverty, fear, and racism have the greatest impact on Bigger’s perspective by acknowledging how fast things can change someone’s life for the worst based on the way they are living and their color. Bigger’s view of the world impacted him in a bad way because he ended up doing a lot of bad things in the book such as murder two times.

Since 19th century, the economists tried to identify and explain the major causes that lead to inequality but always obtaining a scarce consensus. The first was Marx in his book ‘The Capital) that pointed exploitation as the main cause, where people in upper classes get what they get by taking away from the bottom classes. The Duke William of Nassau, an Oxford economist, complained the rich classes to don’t appropriately consume. For Duke William was not the Marxist exploitation of labour, but an insufficient ‘top-down level’ consumption. While Neoclassical economists used the marginal productivity theory to explain the phenomena where those at the upper classes only get what they add.

Joseph Stiglitz affirms that wages have grown less then productivity in the past three decades, a phenomena that could be better explained with neoclassical theory of marginal productivity instead of exploitation of Marx. The consequence is a weaker bargaining power of workers and unions. Moreover, unions’ inability to protect their members against the threat of loosing the job has contributed to weakening their influence. In fact, in most of industrialised countries can be noticed a decline in union membership and power, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon countries and OECD Members.

Another factor that contributed to the increase of inequality are Central Banks policies that have an high focus on inflation and reduce worker’s bargaining power. Indeed, whenever worker’s wages increase, central banks tend to raise the interest rates that bring inflation with the result of “expanding unemployment and downward effect on wages”. At the same time, governments have been very superficial in enforcing laws anti-discrimination, a persistent aspect of market economies and highly present in labour and financial markets.

Paul Krugman compares two books published by Robert Reich: The Work Of Nations (1991) and Saving Capitalism (2015). In the first one, the author attributes the increase of inequalities to new technologies. The technology, indeed, was gradually eliminating repetitive jobs and was even making work based on personal interaction obsolete with the reduction of manual labour and an increase in demand for conceptual work. From this phenomenon, Reich predicted an increase in the salaries of graduate students from universities and a decrease in salaries for the non-graduated.

According to Krugman, this theory has made a bad impression and no longer deserves to be taken seriously. In fact, the real wages of the mid-range have not only stopped growing faster than those in the low-range, but have even begun to slow down. At this point the other economists have also corrected their theory by arguing that technology has emptied the middle range rather than eliminating the low one.

Meanwhile, it has been noted that since 2000 that the salaries of graduated students also began to decline while those of the richest 1% were growing. Evidently this gap had nothing to do with education. But then what was happening?

To explain the growing inequality, Krugman says that economists had abandoned the theory of new technologies starting to talk about power, in particular the market power, or the effects of ‘monopolies’ and ‘oligopolies’.

Saving Capitalism by Reich is an informative version of these new theses according to which the market power has strong repercussions on economic behaviour. According to statistical studies by Jason Furman, president of the United States Council of Economic Advisers, monopolies and oligopolies have been growing exponentially since the 1950s. In addition, inadequate antitrust policies and deregulation mean that monopolists can exercise their enormous power in determining the selling price of its products and the salaries of its employees, preferring to increase the dividends of its shareholders at the expenses of employee’s wages and investments in research and development.

“When, for instance, a monopoly succeeds in raising the price of the goods which it sells, it lowers the real income of everyone else. This suggests that institutional and political factors play an important role in influencing the relative shares of capital and labour”.

Hedge fund legend Ray Dalio attributes the rise of global inequality also to financial crisis, that oblige central banks to keep financials asset prices at their near full capacity but increase wealth gap.

According to Dalio, ‘there are only two times in the history of this century where we had debt crises in which interest rates hit zero. And in both of those times, the central bank had to print money and go to a different type of monetary policy, which we call quantitative easing, and to buy financial assets. And that drives up, in both of those cases, the value of those financial assets and produces a recovery, but it drives interest rates down to zero or near zero, where they are around the world. And that buying of financial assets, has pushed up financial assets and driven the interest rates down to zero, so it’s caused asset prices to rise.’ This process creates a gap between the rich and the poor. Those that have more financial assets see those asset prices go up. And for various other reasons, a wealth gap has developed.

Factors

One of the most detailed research made by the IMF (Causes and consequences of Income Inequality: A Global Perspective. 2015), attributes to: global trends, technological change, trade globalization, financial globalization and redistributive policies as the main factors driving higher income inequality.

• Global trends. In the last four decades, it’s a fact that new technologies have reduced the costs of transportation improving automation and communication. It helped to open new markets and spread growth opportunities in developed and developing countries lifting millions of people out of poverty. Despite this, inequality has also risen because the growth has been accompanied by ‘skill-based technological change’.
• Technological change. New information technology brought an expansion of productivity and well-being, but has increased labour income inequality. This is because technological changes prefer capital and skilled labour to low-skilled and unskilled labour by ‘eliminating many jobs through automation or upgrading the skill level required to attain or keep those jobs’.

  This phenomena have been proved by a research made by OECD in 2011, where shows that technological advantages have contributed to the rise of inequality in his member’s states over the last 25 years. Despite a large rise in the supply of highly educated labour, also emerging economies shows a similar trend of an increasing gap between high- and low-skilled workers.

• Trade globalization. Despite trade has extremely high benefits and is a crucial engine for growth in many countries, nonetheless, is one of the main drivers of inequality. In fact, firms and MNSs in advanced economies highly adopt laboursaving policies and offshoring or outsourcing production that lead to a decline in manufacturing and raise skill premium with the consequences of reducing wages of unskilled labour in advanced countries.
• Financial globalization. Financial globalization can ‘facilitate efficient international allocation of capital and promote international risk sharing’. At the same time, increased financial flows, particularly foreign direct investment (FDI) increase income inequality in both advanced and emerging market economies. One potential explanation is the concentration of foreign investments in sectors with higher skills and technology that increase the demand of workers with higher skills.
• Redistributive policies. Despite governments in developed countries have used effective policies to reduce the inequality gap (taxing the richest and increasing retirement benefits). Anyway, the OECD data shows that income inequality gap between its members are widening. Cause of a declined taxation system with the results that corporations and households have a lower taxation.

Consequences

Inequality affects growth drivers. J.Stiglitz believes that higher inequality lowers growth by depriving the ability of lower-income households to stay healthy and accumulate physical and human capital. For instance, it can lead to underinvestment in education as poor children end up in lower-quality schools and are less able to go on to college. As a result, labour productivity could be lower than it would have been in a more equitable world.

While, M. Corak finds that countries with higher levels of income inequality tend to have lower levels of mobility between generations, with parent’s earnings being a more important determinant of children’s earnings.

Widening income disparities can depress skills development among individuals with poorer parental education background, both in terms of the quantity of education attained (for example, years of schooling) and its quality (that is, skill proficiency). While educational outcomes of individuals from richer backgrounds are not affected by inequality. “It’s not just about a wealth gap but also an opportunity gap. The issue is a global emergency.”

Inequality leads to weak aggregate demand. The reason is easy to understand: “those at the bottom spend a larger fraction of their income than those at the top”.

Inequality of outcomes is associated with inequality of opportunity. When those at the bottom of the income distribution are at great risk of not living up to their potential, the economy pays a price not only with weaker demand today, but also with lower growth in the future. Every country’s long-term prospects are being put into jeopardy.

Societies with greater inequality are less likely to make public investments, which enhance productivity, such as, in public transportation, infrastructure, technology and education.

According to the IMF, inequalities will increase the possibility to have new financial crises, global imbalances and conflicts. Moreover, lead to policies that hurt growth and hampers poverty reduction.

• Financial crises. A growing number of evidence suggests that rising influence of the rich and stagnant incomes of the poor and middle class have a causal effect on crises, and thus directly hurt short- and long-term growth. In particular, studies have argued that a prolonged period of higher inequality in advanced economies was associated with the global financial crisis by intensifying leverage, overextension of credit, and a relaxation in mortgage-underwriting standards, and allowing lobbyists to push for financial deregulation.
• Global imbalances. Higher top income shares coupled with financial liberalization, which itself could be a policy response to rising income inequality, are associated with substantially larger external deficits. These large global imbalances can be challenging for macroeconomic and financial stability.
• Conflicts. Extreme inequality may damage trust and social cohesion andcreate coflicts discouraging investment. Conflicts are particularly prevalentc where inequality makes resolving disputes more difficult. ‘More broadly, inequality affects the economics of conflict, as it may intensify the grievances felt by certain groups or can reduce the opportunity costs of initiating and joining a violent conflict’.
• Inequality can lead to policies that hurt growth. In addition to affecting growth drivers, inequality could result in poor public policy choices.
• Inequality hampers poverty reduction. “Income inequality affects the pace at which growth enables poverty reduction.” Growth is less efficient in lowering poverty in countries with high initial levels of inequality or in which the distributional pattern of growth favours the non-poor. Moreover, higher inequality makes a greater proportion of the population vulnerable to poverty.

Policies

The IMF and many economists find the keys of inequality reduction in many factors.

First of all is education. It can play an important role in reducing income inequality, as it determines occupational choice, access to jobs, and the level of pay, and plays a pivotal role as a signal of ability and productivity in the job market. From a theoretical perspective, the human capital model of income suggests that while there is an unambiguously positive association between educational and income inequality, the effect of increased educational attainment on income inequality could be either positive or negative depending on the evolution of rates of return to education (that is, the skill premium). Moreover, there can be opposing forces at play stemming from “composition” (that is, increasing the share of high-wage earners) and “wage compression” (that is, decline in the returns to higher education relative to lower levels) effects. Overall, the evidence suggests that the inequality impact of education depends on various factors, such as the size of education investments by individuals and governments and the rate of return on these investments. It is in this spirit that Raghuram Rajan notes “prosperity seems increasingly unreachable for many, because a good education, which seems to be today’s passport to riches, is unaffordable for many in the middle class.”

J. Stiglitz finds in: taxation and macroeconomic policies and higher public investment the factors that could make inroads in the high level of inequality which now exists.

Taxation policies. The government of many countries can tax the income of the rich, and use the funds to finance either private or public investment; such policies reduce inequalities in consumption and disposable income, and lead to increased national savings.

Macroeconomic policies are needed that maintain economic stability and full employment. High unemployment most severely penalises those at the bottom and the middle of the income distribution. Today, workers are suffering high unemployment, weak wages and cutbacks in public services, as government revenues are less than they would be if economies were functioning well.

Higher public investment in infrastructures, technology and education would both revive demand and alleviate inequality, and this would boost growth in the long-run and in the short-run. According to a recent empirical study by the IMF, well-designed public infrastructure investment raises output both in the short and long term, especially when the economy is operating below potential. And it doesn’t need to increase public debt in terms of GDP: well-implemented infrastructure projects would pay for themselves, as the increase in income would more than offset the increase in spending.

In most developed countries, public investments could be financed through fair and full taxation of capital income. So that those capitalists who save much of their income won’t see their wealth accumulate at a faster pace than the growth of the overall economy, resulting in growing inequality of wealth.

The IMF believes that tackling inequality is not only a moral imperative. It is critical for sustaining growth. They studied the economic impact of inequality since the late 1980s, since then, the IMF has conducted three waves of pilot studies on inequality topics in 43 countries around the world. From this studies they found their best policies against inequality.

Calibrating Fiscal Policies. As a government’s primary mechanism for redistributing income across populations, fiscal policies are key to addressing inequality issues. Recent work in Costa Rica,Guatemala, Honduras, and Togo focused on related topics.

Protecting Social Spending and Increasing its Effectiveness. Reallocating resources away from ineffective spending programs, such as on fossil fuel subsidies, to effective social spending programs such as cash transfers, can strengthen social assistance, and help counteract the negative impact sometimes associated with needed economic reforms. In Brazil, an IMF study of regional inequality documented the positive contribution of redistributive policies, namely the Bolsa Família program, to the decline in inequality. In Pakistan, IMF policy recommendations included increasing safety-net spending and consolidating some of the smaller, less efficient safety net programs into the well-performing Benazir Income Support Program. The IMF has also been working with countries to protect social spending—especially in health and education—and since 2010, minimum social spending levels have been included in virtually all low-income country programs.

Balancing Labor Market Policies. Work by the IMF staff reveals how differences between formal and informal workers in Colombia, ethnic and religious communities in Israel, regions in Brazil and Slovakia, and between workers in the United States, all contribute to income inequalities. In Poland, IMF staff advocated for policies that support structural transformation in the less developed eastern regions to reduce regional disparities and promote inclusive growth. A further study in 2015 focused on the relationship between labor market institutions and the distribution of incomes in advanced economies.

Managing Commodity Boom and Bust Cycles. Lower commodity prices threaten to reverse reductions in inequality and poverty in Bolivia, following a period of increased public spending funded by the last commodity boom. IMF staff developed a model to help the authorities analyze the driving forces behind the reduction of inequality and poverty, and determine which policies would best help retain these gains, while conducting needed fiscal consolidation.

Promoting Financial Inclusion. Limited access to financial services in rural areas of Ethiopia and Myanmar compounded issues of inequality following financial sector reforms. A recent IMF study looked at how countries can deploy complementary policies to offset any unfavorable consequences for inequality of pro-growth reforms in low-income developing countries.

Conclusion

The extent of inequality, its drivers, and what to do about it have become some of the most hotly debated issues by policymakers and researchers alike. In general, inequality is heavily influenced by many institutional and political factors, industrial relations, labour market institutions, welfare and tax systems, for example, which can both work independently of productivity and affect productivity.Inequality dampens investment, and hence growth, by fueling economic, financial, and political instability.

The evidence is that institutions do matter. Not only can the effect of institutions be analysed, but institutions can themselves often be explained, sometimes by history, sometimes by power relations and sometimes by economic forces left out of the standard analysis. Thus, a major thrust of modern economics is to understand the role of institutions in creating and shaping markets. The question then is: what is the relative role and importance of these alternative hypotheses? There is no easy way of providing a neat quantitative answer, but recent events and studies have lent persuasive weight to theories putting greater focus on rent-seeking and exploitation.

A wide range of policies can help reduce inequality. Policies should be aimed at reducing inequalities both in market income and in the post-taxand-transfer incomes. The regulations of governments play a large role in determining market distribution in preventing discrimination, in creating bargaining rights for workers, in curbing monopolies and the powers of CEOs to exploit firms’ other stakeholders and the financial sector to exploit the rest of society. In most of the countries this rules have to be rewritten to reduce inequality and strengthen the economy.

George Bernard Shaw’s, chronicle, Pygmalion, is one of the festinated romantic dramatic comedies in English. Shaw’s play demonstrates and explores aspects of language in a variety of ways of social classes speaking and inequality of social status and how silliness of class. A silly Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, is a heroine character of the play who has a dream to become a florist not just a flower girl who sells flowers at Tottenham Court Road. In Shaw’s dialogue, her monologues are filled with passion. Shaw’s Pygmalion uses motif for Eliza to make her character outstanding than others. Her psychological trauma and emotions contrary to the society of all social classes, especially Henry Higgins, the upper-class morality who is Eliza’s teacher and antagonist.

Mr. Higgins is using Eliza as a tool to demonstrate his cultural capital or his social status. Whereas, other people’s interpretation of the play “seem…to promote equal opportunity to education as a cure for social inequality: both a means for those of humble origins to improve their lot, and a means for would-be reformers to promote social justice” (Porten 74). Lili Porten criticizes that the education of Eliza to place in the upper class in Shaw’s Pygmalion is seemingly a failure. The lower social class tends to have less cultural capital, whereas, the upper-middle social class has more. According to Porten, “cultural capital is hollow and criteria of merit arbitrary, [since] equal opportunity cannot remedy social inequity” (83). The higher class tends to dominate culture. For instance, Henry makes Eliza a product or merchandise for upper-class morality. He is using her as a tool to promote his cultural capital to all upper-class morality. However, according to one of the notetakers, “despite the fact that Porten’s thesis is the failure of education to help Eliza achieve her greatest goals, she states that this education does help somewhat because it does take her out of the gutter” (Latina Fink A 102 Blog).

Kimberly Bohman-Kalaja’s critique in Shaw’s Pygmalion is associated with discrimination and segregation of Irish and British society. In Pygmalion, Shaw uses Eliza Doolittle to criticize British society. Additionally, Bohman-Kalaja criticizes the heroine character of Eliza as the “passing”

In the play, Eliza does not believe and trust a humble common dustman, Alfred Doolittle, a father of the flower girl, Eliza, and he does not seem to show fatherly love at all. The relationship between them is like an acquaintance. Although they both are lower-class moralities from Wimpole Street, they seem to hate each other. Additionally, she is abandoned by him and her stepmother. In Act II, Alfred takes advantage of her daughter to collect money from Higgins to allow Eliza to stay with Higgins because he thinks that Higgins seems to interest in her. Eliza did not know if her father was approaching behind her. Higgins is told by Eliza that her father is a liar and “[a]ll [Alfred] come[s] here for was to touch [Higgins] for some money to get drunk on” (Pygmalion II, 30, 18-19, emphasis added). He always does to other people like filching or looting money from their pockets. Besides, her attitude towards Alfred is in a negative view; she is disappointed in him because “Hes [sic] a disgrace to [Eliza], he is, collecting dust instead of working at his trade” (Pygmalion II, 31, 2-3). He has never cared for her as a daughter, what he cares about is money. Therefore, “Doolittle does not want to be a part of Liza’s life” (Christine, Fink A 102 Blog). She cannot make money for him and she is a failure daughter. However, Eliza’s metamorphosis has changed from lower class to middle-upper class the way she talks differently to her father; she treads her father indifferently as well

Colonel Pickering, a side character of a gentleman, treats Eliza kindly and courtesy like a lady by calling her Miss Doolittle, not as Higgins who is always bullying her. Her attitude towards Pickering is very positive. Pickering treats her to respect herself and makes a wage of her: “[Pickering]’ll bet [Higgins] all the expenses of the experiment…And [Pickering]’ll pay for the lesson” (Pygmalion II, 16, 8-9). Colonel shows his courtesy as a gentleman in front of Eliza and she appreciates it; the way he speaks to her is like a duchess, and it is related to Eliza’s emotions and feelings. However, when Eliza has transformed from a flower girl to a lady, she always calls him “Colonel Pickering” as his full name to show her respectfulness. Eliza recapitulates her admiration to Pickering:

…It was from you that I learnt [sic] really nice manners; and that is what makes one a lady, isnt [sic] it? You see it was so very difficult for me with the example of Professor Higgins always before me. I was brought up to be just like him, unable to control myself, and using bad language on the slightest provocation. And I should never have known that ladies and gentlemen didnt [sic] behave like that if you hadnt [sic] been there.

She knows how to act like a lady and thanks him for teaching her to become a proper lady; she “shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treated [Eliza] as a flower girl…; but I know I can be a lady to you, because [Pickering] always treat me as a lady” (Pygmalion V, 63, 39-42). She is treated differently from Higgins, and this heroine desires Colonel Pickering to call her “Eliza” instead of Miss Doolittle because their relationship is beyond a teacher and pupil.

Henry Higgins exemplifies Eliza as the main component and subject of his experiment, nothing more. she becomes a Henry Higgins’ pupil and learns high society manners. Although Eliza wants to learn proper English to get a job at a flower shop, Higgins wants to transform her into a sophisticated lady to proof himself–to upper-class morality–as the greatest in his profession. In the early scene, the relationship between them was incompatibility relation. He treats her badly all the time; Eliza is hurt by his verbal attack. Thus, she is not the mere victim of his verbal abuse. Therefore, she uses the motif to protect herself: “I am a good girl, I am.” He is such a haughty person; she dislikes his words and will protest unreasonable against him. It is bearable for them to live together in their perspectives.

In Act IV, the conflict of the relationship between Higgins and Eliza begins to prevail. It shows that they lose their tempers for each other, especially Eliza’s pride as a little girl is insulted and demolished; Higgins is being offended by her after she throws his slippers at his face: “[b]ecause I wanted to smash your face. I’d like to kill you, you [sic] selfish brute” (Pygmalion IV, 50, 5-6). Higgins never appreciated anything for what she has done. This is the climate scene of the play in their relationship because at the early dialogue, he calms, and her situation seems to be controlled. At the end of Act V, when they are having a vast argument, and Eliza is far from to go back to the “gutter,” Mr. Higgins brings Frederick Eynsford Hill, who is known as Freddy, into their conversation; his insulting is associated with Freddy’s education. Then, he does not want Eliza—who is his masterpiece from his experiments—to marry Freddy because he is a viable marriage option for her. She said, “I’ll marry Freddy, I will, as soon as hes [sic] able to support me” (Pygmalion V, 70, 33-34). She declares her feeling toward Henry because Freddy might interest and care about her and treats her differently. For this reason, a day after the Eynsford Hill family left in Act III, Freddy is “pouring out his love for her daily through the post” (Pygmalion 74). Freddy keeps sending a love letter to her every day; he becomes a love stick for Eliza. However, she decides to leave his house, as a result, Higgins feels the triumph and satisfy.