3 ms·

Personally, I think it’s cultural. Very few people who live near me have any ambition beyond going to work for the paycheck and watching football / drinking bee

Personally, I think it’s cultural. Very few people who live near me have any ambition beyond going to work for the paycheck and watching football / drinking beer on the weekends. And there is nothing wrong with that lifestyle if that is what makes you happy, but you can hardly expect the most ambitious people in the world to want to move here. (I’ll note this culture also seems to be passed down from one generation to the next. Moving away for a better job is considered “not caring about family” around here).

SomewhatLikely 9y ago
Those thoughts mirror mine in the role of culture in poverty and income/wealth disparity. Like you, I think it's pretty straightforward to conclude that your outcome in life is influenced by your culture and attitudes. And that the influence can be inter-generational. I just don't hear much talk of trying to improve economic equality via cultural and attitude changes. Probably because you'll be accused of "blaming the victim" as though you were stating this was the only or primary factor. It's easy to become dismissive of positions that make you uncomfortable by whittling away the subtleties until all you're left with is an enraging straw man whom attacking brings you back a degree of comfort. I also feel like consensus around diagnoses and remedies of social ailments suffer from snowballing effects. That is, a heard mentality. For instance, if rational assessments gave Cause A 60% probability of being the true cause, and Cause B a 40% probability, then over time, even with no additional insights, the population will not fall into this same proportion. Probably something like 90% will passionately believe Cause A to be the one true cause, with the other 10% equally convinced it's Cause B, especially if it is more comforting to them and their beliefs/self narrative. Apologies, this became a steam of thought.

SomewhatLikely 9y ago

Those thoughts mirror mine in the role of culture in poverty and income/wealth disparity. Like you, I think it's pretty straightforward to conclude that your outcome in life is influenced by your culture and attitudes. And that the influence can be inter-generational. I just don't hear much talk of trying to improve economic equality via cultural and attitude changes. Probably because you'll be accused of "blaming the victim" as though you were stating this was the only or primary factor. It's easy to become dismissive of positions that make you uncomfortable by whittling away the subtleties until all you're left with is an enraging straw man whom attacking brings you back a degree of comfort. I also feel like consensus around diagnoses and remedies of social ailments suffer from snowballing effects. That is, a heard mentality. For instance, if rational assessments gave Cause A 60% probability of being the true cause, and Cause B a 40% probability, then over time, even with no additional insights, the population will not fall into this same proportion. Probably something like 90% will passionately believe Cause A to be the one true cause, with the other 10% equally convinced it's Cause B, especially if it is more comforting to them and their beliefs/self narrative. Apologies, this became a steam of thought.