The ‘Inequality’s OK’ Fallacy

A common defence of inequality is that it does not matter so long as people are better off than they might otherwise be, or they have enough to get by. Concerns about inequality are then dismissed as dogmatic or naïve because efforts to reduce inequality might make lives worse for those who are doing ‘well’ even they currently have comparatively less than others.

Many people are taken in by this line of argument, but let us unpack what is being said. The ‘better off’ clause is often brought in by comparing prevailing conditions with what happened in the past. For example, why moan about your share of the company’s earnings going down from X% to Y% when your actual pay has gone up? Well, what if the unequal sharing out reflects the power of those in charge to take a larger share? Furthermore, any increase in pay may not lead to a ‘better off’ position, if prices have more widely risen, the bosses are demanding tougher work targets for gains that would mostly go to them, or job security is declining as the hiring/firing power of those in charge grows with their relative financial strengths.

Whether someone is ‘better off’ depends on many conditions other than the extras their bosses give them. The extra pay may not help one keep pace with getting the better life others can take for granted. For example, as medical care improves, it is no consolation to say to someone denied the latest treatment, “you are better off than you would have been fifty years ago”, when other people today can get far more effective help with reducing the pain and curing the condition one is suffering from. The same goes for the notion of ‘enough to get by’. Are we supposed to peg the standards of ‘getting by’ to survival in primitive times, or attaining the average lifespan of 30 or 40 years in a medieval village? Or do we factor in how society has developed, and what resources and opportunities now exist for people to utilise?

How those resources and opportunities are generated and accessed depends on the socio-political arrangements that are in place. And here is where inequality poses an even deeper problem that no one can ignore.

Inequality in wealth inevitably brings inequality in power. That power gap has meant that the rich can (and some certainly do) load the societal dice in their own favour at every turn. The more obvious tactics include: donations to politicians and parties that would help them and hinder those who might not comply with their agendas (e.g., workers, unions, environmental activists); hiring expensive lawyers and lobbyists to make sure the legal system works as far as possible for their benefit at the expense of those who cannot afford to fight back; and funding media and ‘thinktank’ output that promotes initiatives that would help strengthen their position.

Meanwhile, those with a dwindling share of wealth and power find themselves with less influence over public polices and suffer accordingly. Housing becomes a growing problem for them whatever they earn at the bottom half (two-thirds even) of the income pyramid, as the wealthy buy up properties as investment. The superrich also buy up havens aboard and live in pristine surroundings, while others pay the price for the polluted air and dire water management coming from companies owned by wealthy investors. Educational betterment is increasingly reserved for those from rich families as universities become unaffordable for most.

We now come to the ‘Let Sleeping Inequalities Lie’ line – based on the alleged wisdom that attempts to tackle inequality could just make things worse for everyone. This simply ignores what the New Deal achieved in the US, the impact of Attlee’s post-war reforms, and the enviable quality of life (as measured by every global indicator) attained by the Nordic countries through their inequality-reducing policies. Inequalities in power should and could be reduced to improve our lives. What’s more, left to fester, they might well bite back with a vengeance.

The Real Communitarian Challenge

We’re still hearing commentators say that progressive politicians should be more ‘communitarian’ in backing ‘traditional’ values and outlook – which are taken to mean anti-diversity, anti-immigration, and prioritising local concerns over global issues. But they are mistaken on two counts.

Firstly, as anyone who has studied the works of bona fide communitarian thinkers would know – communitarian ideas are about improving people’s lives by learning from their collective experiences. Throughout history, communities have many different traditions and practices, and which of these should be retained, revised, or rejected, should be based on the impact they have on people, and what they discover from each other as they explore possible changes and what beneficial or harmful consequences may follow. Communitarians criticise the discarding of past arrangements on the basis of any dogmatic assumption, as much as they object to keeping all arrangements regardless of their effects.

Secondly, any serious communitarian analysis of society would tell us that communities would not in fact be better off with less diversity, rejection of immigration, or turning a blind eye to global issues. It is not an ideological declaration, but practical examinations that inform us that enabling people with different backgrounds to mix and cooperate enriches their lives; migrants bring skills and dedication that would not be in demand if there were not significant unmet needs; and local concerns cannot be effectively addressed unless global issues are properly dealt with too.

Communitarian findings do not support insular fossilisation of an imagined past as the way to a good life. They consider the evidence revealed in community life, and point to what works better than other alternatives. Three of these are particularly worthy of note.

[A] Communities that foster Mutual Responsibility: 

Communities where their members mingle freely irrespective of their backgrounds are more inventive, productive, and at ease in collaborating with others from inside or outside their own areas. With their members’ general respect for one another, and their sense of responsibility for how their actions can affect others, such communities are more adaptive to changes, harmonious in resolving differences, and less prone to being divided by irrelevant or trivial differences.

[B] Communities that support Cooperative Enquiry: 

Communities where their members learn by sharing arguments, discoveries, experiments openly are more advanced in obtaining reliable information, developing useful theories and practices, and investigating the veracity of contested claims. Unlike communities that are dominated by arbitrary dogmas or self-proclaimed unquestionable authorities, communities that learn cooperatively are more capable of problem-solving, and exposing harmful prejudices and fallacies.

[C] Communities that empower Citizen Participation:  

Communities where their members share power and can influence decisions that affect their lives are more cohesive, stable, and disposed to take joint ownership of actions undertaken to deal with the challenges they face. Having to take account of others, with none too powerful to dictate terms, such communities have more dependable means to pool their efforts and resources in collective endeavours for their common benefits, and are less vulnerable to chaos or oppression.

People who advocate the retention of damaging features of dysfunctional communities are no more ‘communitarians’ than people who demand the retention of harmful aspects of polluted environments are ‘environmentalists’. The real communitarian challenge is to develop policies and practices that will help communities move forward in becoming more conducive to mutual responsibility, cooperative enquiry, and citizen participation.

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You can order the book, Communitarianism: politics, society & public policy from Bloomsbury: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/communitarianism-9781350422421/

 

For a free preview of the introductory chapter, visit: 

https://bloomsburycp3.codemantra.com/viewer/67d050e5ee3588000125971e