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> where your fate is 'centrally planned' by how impressive your maths skills are Is it better than a fate that is generally determined by how rich your parents
by collyw 9y ago
> where your fate is 'centrally planned' by how impressive your maths skills are
Is it better than a fate that is generally determined by how rich your parents are? I give you that there are more options in the States, but this plays a huge role. Social mobility has been declining in the US.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socioeconomic_mobility_in_the_United_States#Current_state https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socioeconomic_mobility_in_the_...
Not saying I prefer the Chinese model, but most people prefer the idea of meritocracy to inherited wealth.
- pm90 9y agoThis isn't really a good comparison. The US has its problems and rising inequality has been a huge one for sure. But the biggest strength of the US has been its institutions and a society and economy that is based on laws. The independent Universities, Judiciary etc. are all extremely hard to get it right and the US has managed to do so (mostly; there are still many many problems e.g. school-prison pipeline, unequal treatment for minorities and poor communities etc.) It seems much more likely to fix the US's problems with inequality rather than try to build all these institutions from scratch in China, at least in its current environment.
- justicezyx 9y agoI am puzzled by the reasoning. If your claimed good mechanism cannot reach a good outcome, what's the use or value of them. Op said, AFAIK, is that China is doing seemingly bad thing, but if the outcome is not worse than others doing, what's the ground of criticizing? You cannot argue that something should be citicized just because itself not from their effects...
- pm90 9y agoYou can shoot yourself in the head today. You’re going to die anyways. Why do you continue to live? It’s the same outcome right?
- justicezyx 9y agoWow... Shooting to die == eventually will die...
- intrasight 9y agoAnd in addition to the rule of law, the US gives it citizens the opportunity to rise above their situation (some would use the term "class"). There are few countries where this is the case. In most countries, the state determines your fate.
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- collyw 9y agoMost countries don't allow this? You need to give some evidence of that. European countries have free markets and most have better social mobility than the US. If you check the link in my original post you will see the US has relatively low social mobility for a developed nation. Your comment reminds me of the attitude described in this sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oyKVAjISmI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oyKVAjISmI
- pm90 9y agoDo they really? The compensation for Software Engineers at least seems to be ridiculously low compared to those in the US, moreso in SFBA. I get that the social safety nets are very good but I don’t agree that social mobility is any easier in Europe.
- thesauri 9y agoSalary levels don't say anything about social mobility. Social mobility is about how easy it is to climb to highly paying jobs such as software engineering for people from underprivileged backgrounds. There seems to be evidence that Americans overestimate social mobility in the US while Europeans underestimate social mobility in European countries. In practice, European countries also perform better in that regard. https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2018/02/daily-chart-9 https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2018/02/daily-...
- intrasight 9y agoMy European friends have indicated that kids are "tracked" from grade school, and your career is basically determined by your scores in 6th grade. In America you can flunk out of high school and still choose to pursue your chosen career. I have many friends who did just that, and have become very successful in their careers.