politics of class Flashcards
what four binaries can help inform the debate over meritocracy? define them
- relative and absolute merits
- type vs effort
- trickle up vs trickle down
- wall street vs silicone valley
should meritocracy focus on absolute or relative position?
absolute: comparison with self strenghts - self improvement - no rivalry - doesnt promote individualism weakeness - might not be an incentive to work hard in all scenarios
relative: comparison with others
strengths
- promotes working hard
weakness
- u r always a loser compared to others
- waste of resources to be the best when thats impossible
- reduces social trust, cooperation, cohesion cos everyone vying for the same spot, will do anything to win
- promotes individualism
- inconsistency in performance cos cannot always put in so much effort what, leads to stress and illness
** some aspect of life can have relative but it comes at the cost of well being, mostly shld be absolute so ppl are collaborative rather than competitive all the time
what happens when focus on type rather than effort
type: characteristics of person, right attributes
stregnth
- none
weakness
- right attribute is subjective
- people can be wealthy, well connected and end up having the right attributes but nvr try hard then not fair
- forces people to compete for relative postion
- not even playing grounds cos everyone come from different background
- waste of reousrces if they measure merit poorly (e.g psle as a future decider)
effort: effort put into achievement strenght - trying is acknowledged - got no uneveness cos all effort is acknowledged weakness - bare minimum
how does wall street differ from silicone valley
wall street no accountability, entitlement and pushing blame
weakness: toxic
- moral hazard cos blame other to escape consquences
- not socially useful because increases systemic fragility
- self justifying and entitled; feels like they are owed
silicon valley accountability and more transparent strengths: bear full consequences no hypocrisy not escaping blame
how to shift from trickle down to trickle up
fiscal policy focus on increasing human captial rather than helping talents excel with no barriers
trickle down: talent focused
- driven by best and brightest
- resources mostly given to those who are successful in hopes that they will create job oppportunities for the less successful
- growing pie but not distributing it
trickle up:
- equal opportunities for all
- equalising resources, giving headstart for those that need it so that theres even playing field and competition
how does inequality get under the skin
- rise in anxiety
: people get more anxious trying to keep up with expectations and statuses
: low self esteem - threats to social self
: try to preserve our social self so we are always looking out from threats that might make ppl look down on us
: our value is based on other’s perception of us - pride shame and status
: we feel validation from the way ppl see us
: constantly trying to enhance how we look or what we have so we got some type of status
: low social status leads to insecurities and anxiety
: higher status means you are superior - community to society
: highly conciosu of oursleves with strangers
how is self esteem and anxiety related to inequality
low self esteem means more insecure and more anxious about what people think of us
mask the insecurities with egotism
unhealthy self esteem makes us defensive
inequality lowers our self esteem because we feel not as good as the other
how is trust related to inequality
inversely related; less inequality more trust
less differentiation and segregation of people so more trust
qualities of social relation is lesser in unequal societies, people use differnces in living standards as markers of status differences
so ppl richer or poorer than u r not in your cirlce, we don’t connect with them so we don’t trust them
how is trust related to well being
more trust, more cohesion, more happy more well being
how is mental health and drug use related to inequality
more inequality more drug use due to alleviating stress, poor mental health due to stress of inequality
mental health detorieates cos inequality makes ppl question their value then they isolate themselves from others then lonely then mental health issue
** the more we have, the more we feel we need to maintain status then we work toward relative positions at the expense of our well being
what does affluenza and status anxiety mean
affluenza: desire to be more wealthy and on par with the rest
- high value placed on materialistic gains to look good infront of others
- risk stress,depression,anxiety
status anxiety: the constant tension or fear of being perceived as “unsuccessful” by the society in materialistic terms
how does inequality impact stress physical health and life expectancy
high inequality, more stress, poor health, low life expectancy
more stress cos low job status, poverty
poor health cos stress, low levels of happiness when no control over life
low life expectancy cos poor health, ppl think of short term gratification
how is inter generational social mobility and income equality related
Intergenerational social mobility refers to the relationship between the socio- economic status of parents and the status their children will attain as adults
rich father rich son, playing field set up for success if they have high income
bigger income differences tend to have much lower social mobility
are ethnicity and inequality related to one another
white more privilege less inequality
how do universal and means tested prog impact inequality
universal: inclusive, everyone benefits large majority
- making things equal results in more trust more solidarity
good:
- more redistributive
- equal treatment increases sense of equal opportunities, sense of citizenship and access to opportunities, enhances solidairty and perception of shared fate no one is outcasted
bad:
- expensive
- deadweight spending that benefits no one
targetted: only those that need help benefits
- aim is not for equal outcome but rather not being below poverty line
good
- cheaper
- does increase dependency on state
- family help first
bad
: no trust, no solidarity
: make ppl’s differences stand out more
