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Ironically, I think you're letting your view of academia distort your own thinking here. The mechanism isn't that complex. Anywhere resources are limited can l
by ahoho 5y ago
Ironically, I think you're letting your view of academia distort your own thinking here.
The mechanism isn't that complex. Anywhere resources are limited can lead to outcomes where an unequal society is worse off than an equal one. If I have a finite supply of doctors, for example, then the wealthy will be the ones who receive care while the poor go without.
The wealthy also tend to set up systematic barriers to ensure that the resources they fund serve them alone [1]. In the US, this is probably best exemplified by public education: schools are funded by property taxes, so rich districts have better schools, which in turn further increases home values (a process exacerbated by policies that prevent construction of cheaper, higher-density housing---policies supported by, naturally, the wealthy). Schools in poorer districts are therefore worse off than they would be if wealth weren't as concentrated.
Even if you take the perspective that, net, an equal amount of dollars is going toward education (or healthcare, etc.), it's fairly obvious the marginal benefits are different. A second violin teacher isn't as meaningful as adding a calculus class; elective cosmetic surgery isn't equivalent to treating diabetes.
[1]: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-birth-of-a-new-american-aristocracy/559130/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-bir...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- civilized 5y agoThis is just your speculation. A bunch of other people in this comment tree say it's not about outcomes in an unequal society being worse than outcomes in a (hypothetical, possibly unachievable) equal society with the same resources. Instead it's about a hardwired biological stress response that people lower in the social hierarchy have when they observe people higher up. So before we go lecturing about how it "isn't that complex" let's make sure we understand what this thing is that's supposedly not that complex.
- ahoho 5y agoWhere's the speculation? I shared a concrete example. Places without that method of funding have more equitable education systems. I'm not really concerned what others are saying. You made the claim that "There's no reason for my health to be harmed just because someone has more than me." I just gave an intuitive explanation of how this could happen. And you can see this happening on a global scale: wealthy countries attract more higher-skilled workers, like doctors. These are educated, capable people not contributing those skills to their home countries (to be clear, I wholeheartedly support open immigration policies, but that doesn't mean "brain drain" isn't real). EDIT: ah, I was not reading carefully, and realize you are saying "I see no reason for my health to be harmed by the sole fact of being poorer than someone else." I am not familiar with Sapolsky's research and can't speculate. In principle, I do see why you'd think it's hard to disentangle the material impacts of inequality from the psychological.
- civilized 5y agoYou've completely missed my point in a manner that suggests further conversation may not be productive, but for what it's worth, your info on school funding is quite out of date: https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-new-truth-school-funding-america-20211111-rwkdmt6ydjfkpngfy5rqwhmfqq-story.html https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-new-truth-school...