Tem

Notes from Ethics on Inequality

• Some thoughts on inequality:

• Traditional arguments against great inequality of wealth and income. Aristotle, an aristocrat, argued that neither the very rich nor the very poor should rule. Modern political theory echoes the idea that a middle class provides stability to a society. That doesn't occur in extreme inequality. Montesquieu and other argued that Rome fell in part from rule by the few. Word for the day: oligarchy!
• American arguments & history -- plenty of egalitarianism in our history. De Toqueville, 1774 top 1% had 8% of earnings. 2012 top 1% had 19% of income. Most people worked for themselves.

• But then the Gilded Age: by ate 18th century, 6% owned 66% percent of national wealth.
• But then the Progressive Era / New Deal. Income tax, direct election of senators, 1st campaign finance laws.

• 1928: top 10% takes home 46% of income
• 1951-82: top 10% income share never exceeds 33%. Poverty rate drops from 34% in 60s to 11% in 70s.

• But then, the 80s-present:

• 2017: top 10% owned 77% of wealth (more than Gilded Era), 20 richest americans > bottom 1/2 of US pop. 152million people. CEO earnings as a multiple of workers up 10x by 2013.
• Connection between extreme inequality and oligarchs. (Alot of this is drawn from a recent article [1])

• Contemporary Approaches: How might a social science / evolutionary psych / ethical naturalist (aka MFT) approach inequality?

• Accepting or rejecting inequality: Authority/Subversion & Liberty/Oppression -- both regard the challenge of maintaining status in hierarchical society and responding to bullies (some oligarchs have a tendency to be bullies!). Care/Harm Fairness/Cheating is also a way into this issue when bottom group is suffering or when advantages seem unrelated to opportunity or merit.
• Is there an ideological dimension to our understanding of inequality? Ariely / Norton research [2] What's going on here? Does our cluelessness about inequality mean something? What are the boundaries of inequality and stratification in our psychology?

• Hypothesis generation....

• Pinker: Big difference now: We have inequality without poverty (in wealthy world). Evo pscych: Maybe we don't have a framework for understanding inequality? How much inequality might we accept in a wealth global future? Thought experiment. From oligarchy to the new nobility.