Rising Wealth Inequality: Should We Care?
Why do Americans seem unperturbed about the growing gap between the rich and the poor?Why Rock the Boat?
Updated March 22, 2011, 09:52 AM
Lisa Keister is professor of sociology and director of the markets and management program at Duke University. She is the author of "Wealth in America" and the forthcoming, "Social Stratification and Inequality" and "Faith and Finances."
There is no question that inequality in wealth and income are extreme today. Wealth inequality in the United States is particularly high, surpassing that of most other countries. Yet few Americans are outraged by these trends. There is some evidence that people would prefer more equality, but there is no sign of widespread outrage or pervasive demands for change. Why? There are at least four important reasons.Many Americans believe: If I'm not moving up and doing better, it's my own fault.
1. Homophily. We tend to spend most of our time with people like ourselves. We are typically very similar to our friends and family members on most demographic traits: race, ethnicity, education, family structure, religious beliefs and political views. We also tend to be similar to our friends and family on income and wealth measures. As a result, on most days we encounter a small slice of the population and rarely see evidence of inequality. Even those who are extremely rich or extremely poor spend most of their time in the company of other very rich or very poor people, giving them little reason to think about inequality most of the time.2. Rising tides lift all boats. Even as inequality worsens, most people have tended to have more income and wealth. Some segments of the population have done worse over time, but in general people are doing better than prior generations. In other words, individual well-being is improving even in the face of growing inequality.
3. Evidence of mobility. Despite overall trends in inequality, some groups have been upwardly mobile. White Roman Catholics, for example, have been upwardly mobile in terms of wealth, income, education and other measures of well-being in recent decades. Combined with the American belief that anyone can make it, evidence that some people are moving up suggests that if I am not doing well, it is my fault.
4. General happiness. Happiness is difficult to measure, but there is evidence that Americans are by and large satisfied with their circumstances regardless of income, wealth, education, etc.
After reading the article “Why Rock the Boat” by sociologist Lisa Keister, I agree that most Americans are generally happy with their circumstances. If you take into consideration that most people spend the majority of their time with people in the same financial position and that most people are in a better financial position than the previous generation it is understandable that they are happy. With most Americans happy and relatively unconcerned about the uneven distribution of wealth I am uncertain why it the focus of so many studies. I believe if we take away the opportunity for people to become wealthy by making sure every person has the same amount of wealth, we are taking away the American Dream. I think we need to focus more on individuals who are not afforded the opportunity to chase the American Dream because of their financial situation. We should make sure that the poorest people receive the help and financial aid needed to give them and their children the ability to better their circumstances in life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Sam! Most people are happy with their circumstances. Whether through achieved status or ascribed status, most people realize that they are comfortable with their own status. If you look back in time just 50 years ago, there was not equality of opportunity. Today's world is much fairer! This allows many Americans to achieve a higher income. Their wealth also increases. The largest majority of people are in the middle 80% of the diamond. They are generally satisified; they know there are people below them, so they feel like they are better off. They are slightly envious of those above them. However, they associate with people who are like them. The top 10% of the diamond is of course happy with their situation. The bottom 10% of the income/wealth diamond is the most upset with the boat. This explains why most people will not rock the boat!
ReplyDeleteI agree with this article when it states that people are generally happy with their situations in life and that is because most individuals are around people of the same financial status of their self. It is hard to see what you do not have when you are around people the same as you all of the time. The article also states that financial situations have been getting better despite the gap increasment between the highly wealthy and poor. So, according to this article despite many other sources saying that the United States is getting poorer, this article actually believes that financial situations are progressing.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading "Why Rock The Boat?", I found that I developed a greater understanding of why people have not truly started to act against the horrible financial situation present today. The economy as a whole is having major problems, but people as individuals aren't. In fact, compared to previous generations, people today are better off. Most people do not really consider the economy as a whole, but mainly how it is affecting them and their loved ones. This explains why people are not taking action, because people are not necessarily upset about their lifestyles and income as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI agree that people tend to associate with people who are similiar to themselves. If you look at my friends, most of them either go to my school and have the same classes or play on my sports' teams. People tend to navigate towards those in the same class, creating an ignorance of other social classes. Seeing that they are equal with the people who mean the most in their lives, people are comfortable with their status. Even though their income is decreasing, so is their best friend's, making the struggle less apparent.
ReplyDeleteBefore I read this article, I did not understand why people were not concerned by the rising inequality of wealth. This sociologist really hit the target in explaining why people are not concerned. Even though we like to think we want to help people in our society, most people's main concern is their personal problems first before anything. And if a individual's circumstances are decent, thats all that matters. And when the author explained that many people live and thrive around people who are very similiar econonmically to themselves, I understood completely. This fact made me understand why many celebrities live in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles: because thats where all of the other celebrities are. Very rarely do you see a big-time celebrity living among lower class residents.
ReplyDeletePeyton Bromley said...
ReplyDeleteWe as individuals want to feel comfortable. Hanging around people above our social class makes it difficult to understand each other. We associate ourselves with people like us because it allows us to have a closer relationship. We thus build a prejudice towards other classes. Also, while our society has it's issues 80% of the people still fall in the diamond. Then the diamond is split into the top 10% and the bottom 10%. We decide who to hang out with based on this representation of our societies wealth distribution. We hang out with people in the same part of the diamond as we are. We are content as a society with this. This is why no body rocks the boat.
I think the last line of the article is especially interesting. It makes sense that no one complains about the way things are, because things have been worse and people have seen the worseness. Most Americans have at least heard the words Great Depression in their lifetime, and so it only makes sense that Americans believe that since things aren't as terrible as they were back then things are fine. It also makes sense that no one's complaining because people are generally happy with their positions in life, and those who aren't do what they can to move up--and as stated those people will in fact rise if they work hard enough and long enough even if it takes a lifetime. Still, the majority of America isn't going to try rocking the boat.
ReplyDeleteKeister's statement that, "Combined with the American belief that anyone can make it, evidence that some people are moving up suggests that if I am not doing well, it is my fault." is a true mentality of Americans today. Some of the best selling books and movies are about the Cinderella stories of hardworking people who achieve their own American dreams. There is an overwhelming expectation that if someone really truly wants something, they can make it happen. Americans who aren't rich then get the idea that it is their own fault for the growing financial gap and they won't want to take action to change the injustices that perpetuate the inequality.
ReplyDeleteFor more than two centuries, economic opportunity and the prospect of upward mobility have formed the bedrock upon which the American story has been anchored — inspiring people in distant lands to seek our shores and sustaining the unwavering optimism of Americans at home. The concept of social mobility is fostered by the American Dream that hard work will produce success. However it is not that easy to move up in America today because the “starting line” is not marked at the same place for everyone.
ReplyDeleteAs economic inequality is becoming more prevalent, one would think that Americans would be upset and working hard to counteract these changes. However, in this article, Lisa Keister provides four valid reasons for why there is no uprising or general anger from society. The idea that we spend most time with people of similar economic status plays a very large factor - how would one even know of a widening economic gap if they only spent their time with people of the same status? Also, the point about the idea that Americans have about mobility was poignant - the media (inspirational books, speakers, etc) is constantly encouraging us and telling stories about people who are beating the odds and rising to fortune. However rare this may be, Americans still have that belief in the backs of their heads that they could be that one person to rise above.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Claire. Lisa Keister makes a valid point that part of why there is less anger about the disparity between the different classes is because people tend to group with people of similar economic status. It is more difficult to understand the ramifications of the gap between the classes if someone is not directly experiencing it. Americans like to support the "Everyman" so the success stories about someone battling the odds and rising to the top is the kind of story that everyone loves to hear. Also, many people are seemingly happy in their statuses, even if they may not be the wealthiest. To many it is more important to be happy, healthy, and comfortable than to accrue a great amount of money.
ReplyDeleteThis article made Americans seem very passive and a generally content group of people, when I thought Americans were collectively the best whiners and complainers. The general ideas behind why people do not recognize inequality on a large scale is spot on. People do in fact might think they are doing well, and in fact better than most, but the American competitive business nature is not something to be joked about or underestimated.
ReplyDeleteThis article in my opinion supports the idea of, don't fix what's no broken, because Americans keep with their own kind they don't see what really is broken. In many Americans eyes there is nothing wrong with the growing difference between rich and poor because them and there friends are not seeing the difference. If Americans spent more time with different income levels they may be able to see what truly is broken.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this article i finally got answers. I truly started to understand why American's aren't going insane amount our economy. Everyday we hear about just how much money America doesn't have and business' closing daily but yet no one seemed concern and now i know why. America is in serious trouble yes, but individually Americans are not. American's are not hurting in the money department like the country is. Americans can not see how big of a gap that is being created between the rich and the poor, which is why no action is being taken about the economy.
ReplyDeleteThe final sentence of this article, "After all, why rock the boat when things could be worse?", was one that I did not necessarily agree with. The Tea Party and other left wing groups are rocking the boat currently, and many complain about the state of affairs in the United States. This is something which often irritates me, because Americans never seem to be happy with what they have, while in other nations, individuals are living on less than several dollars a day and do not complain or raise a ruckus with local politics at all. I wish that Americans would just "Sit down, sit down, sit down. Sit down you're rockin the boat", and accept that while social inequality does exist here, most, as mentioned by this article, are relatively content, and we are all much better off than an enormous percentage of the world's population.
ReplyDeleteMadison Jones: Americans thrive on the money -making religion of self-reliance: "If I'm not moving up and doing better, it's my own fault." Americans do not rely on the government to make their income equal. We are generally not looking for handouts. Although Americans complain about the recession, they are not changing their lifestyle. If they have developed a happy way of earning and spending before the recession, they will not necessarily stop doing so when the economy is at a low point. Happiness is the American dream and families will do whatever it takes to achieve this dream
ReplyDeleteI agree with madison when she said "Americans complain about the recession, they are not changing their lifestyles" many americans complain about losing jobs and how hard it is; but i honestly feel like they could go and apply at like Mcdonalds or something. You do not need that much education for that job. Peopl who do no know any english are taking our jobs because we do not take the opportunity to go out and search for a job.
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