Danny Dorling Presentation to the RSA. April 2010
Transcript of Danny Dorling Presentation to the RSA. April 2010
-
8/9/2019 Danny Dorling Presentation to the RSA. April 2010
1/12
Injustice:Why social inequality persists
Danny Dorling
University of Sheffield
The claim: the five social evils identified by Beveridge in 1942 are gradually
being eradicated, they are being replaced by five new tenets of injustice -
elitism, exclusion, prejudice, greed and despair.
Social injustices are now being recreated, renewed and supported by these
five new sets of unjust beliefs. We need to again begin to think differently.
-
8/9/2019 Danny Dorling Presentation to the RSA. April 2010
2/12
From ignorance
In 1942 illiteracy waswidespread and
numeracy was even
worse. James Flynn has
shown how much we have
improved since (The Flynn
effect)
However, educational
apartheid in the UK has risen
as the majority of additional
qualifications in recent
decades have been awarded
to a minority of young adults Great BritainTopography and RiversMajor road network...Major road network...
-
8/9/2019 Danny Dorling Presentation to the RSA. April 2010
3/12
to elitism
A seventh of children inaffluent countries are now
routinely described as
found limited or simple
at learning by the OECD
Many now again believe that
the ability of children is
distributed along a bell-curve
with little chance for most of
rising much above their setpotential
This elitism is erroneously
seen as being somehow
efficient
-
8/9/2019 Danny Dorling Presentation to the RSA. April 2010
4/12
From want
In 1942, for the first time inBritain, many of the poor
did not go hungry thanks
to rationing
Absolute material deprivationwas reduced to the point
where obesity became
associated with poverty
Social segregation has
increased as real financial
rewards and benefits to those
worse off have fallen just
as the riches of the wealthy
have grown
-
8/9/2019 Danny Dorling Presentation to the RSA. April 2010
5/12
to exclusion
a sixth of people in the moreunequal rich countries are
debarred: excluded from
full membership of society
because of poverty. A much
smaller proportion exclude
themselves from social norms
by dint of their wealth.
Questioning these extremes
is far from encouraged
Exclusion has become
accepted as a new necessity,
both the super-rich and
widespread inequality havebecome acce table
-
8/9/2019 Danny Dorling Presentation to the RSA. April 2010
6/12
From idleness
In the 1930s millions ofpeople were desperate for a
job any job
That desperation was
eradicated by creating newemployment and providing
better social security
But a wider racism has
developed, a new social
Darwinism, which sees some
people as inherently less
deserving and able than
those who need great
rewards to work in top jobs
-
8/9/2019 Danny Dorling Presentation to the RSA. April 2010
7/12
to prejudice
a fifth of adults in countrieslike Britain and the United
States are now serial
debtors. Rising inequalities
in income and wealth have
made it more likely that
people get into debt in order
to keep up with their peer
group and avoid being judged
undeserving, of living in thewrong place, or of just
wearing the wrong clothes.
This prejudice is being
painted as natural as
Darwinian.
-
8/9/2019 Danny Dorling Presentation to the RSA. April 2010
8/12
From squalor
After 1942 unprecedentednumbers of households were
homeless, the eradication of
slums was a priority
Most spending on housingwas initially for those who
most needed housing
But now a mantra is widely
accepted that for those who
have most to spend, theirspending is necessary at
almost any cost, including
growing global inequalities
and mounting debt
-
8/9/2019 Danny Dorling Presentation to the RSA. April 2010
9/12
to greed
a quarterof households in
Britain are discarded in
terms of social inclusion.
Many cannot afford to run a
car while others have more
cars than they can drive. Foreign holidays are
advertised as normal,
whereas increasing numbers
of households cannot afford asingle annual holiday
Greed is presented as good,
welcomed as what now
drives our model of economic
growth, not duty but greed Great Britains population distribution
-
8/9/2019 Danny Dorling Presentation to the RSA. April 2010
10/12
From disease
In 1942 a near bankruptcountry planned the
introduction of efficient
national health care
The NHS and reduced socialinequality, resulting in a great
reduction in suffering and fear
of physical disease
But anxiety rose in place of
disease, best understood asa symptom of living in times
and places when wide
inequalities are seen as
acceptable Political Britain
-
8/9/2019 Danny Dorling Presentation to the RSA. April 2010
11/12
to despair
a third of families in Britainnow contain someone who
suffers depression or
chronic anxiety disorder. The
result of living in more
unequal affluent countries is
to harm the mental well-being
of people in general and
especially adolescents, who
now face such uncertainfutures
Despair is becoming seen as
inevitable, the symptoms
require mass medication, but
what of the causes? Greedy Britain
-
8/9/2019 Danny Dorling Presentation to the RSA. April 2010
12/12
Inequality is expensive. In money,learning, respect, labour, housing and lives.
Among the worlds richest 25 countries:The most unequal are:
17.7 Singapore (-)
15.9 US (20)
15.0 Portugal (-)
13.8 UK (22)
13.4 Israel (-)
And the most equal are:
6.9 Germany (14)
6.2 Sweden (8)
6.1 Norway (8)
5.6 Finland (10)4.5 Japan (-)
90: 10 income ratios (note 37 page 327 of
Injustice Why social inequality persists)(in brackets UNDP 2009 % aged 16-65 lacking literacy)
Unequal Britain
CreditsCredits
Presentation by
Danny Dorling
and Benjamin Hennig
Maps and animations by
Benjamin Hennig