Social Inequality and the New Elite - NYTimes.com
This article’s basic premise is that while inclusiveness has increased in the US, economic inequality has gone up, and that part of why the degree of economic inequality in our country is tolerated is because of the appearance of having a meritocracy—if there is a huge gap in wealth, it’s because it’s “deserved.”
My big question, though, is, “Are we really that inclusive?” Considering that economic inequality in America overwhelmingly disadvantages many of the groups we claim to have become more accepting toward—blacks, Latinos, immigrants, women—I’m not sure that any claims we make about being an inclusive, tolerant society where these groups have been “brought into the mainstream” are anything more than lip service.
This quote from the piece stuck out to me: “Race, gender and sexual orientation became the salient cleavages of American political life. And if you look at it — blacks, Hispanics and women have gained somewhat relative to the population as a whole, but labor as a category has lost ground. The groups that mobilized — blacks, Hispanics, women — made gains. But white male workers, who demobilized politically, lost ground.” Despite the white male worker having “lost ground,” he still makes more money than any other demographic—blacks, Latinos, and women of any race. And while much fuss has been made over the wretched state of unemployment for older white men (at astronomical rates of 5%!), markedly less attention has been paid to the fact that the unemployment rate for black men is the highest for any demographic at a startling 15.4%, and for young black men, nearly a third are unemployed.
So is America really all that inclusive? And can the economic inequality be separated from the racial inequality, when the two are so obviously tied to each other? The claims that we are an inclusive society with racial equality are completely and totally unsubstantiated, unless you somehow think that not having separate drinking fountains for whites and people of color anymore somehow makes us the paragon of equality and acceptance. (“But I let black people use my bathroom!”)
Our prisons are filled with men of color, and people of color are more likely to be incarcerated and receive harsher punishment than their white counterparts. People of color are paid less and have a harder time finding a job. People with names that do not “sound white” are less likely to be considered for a position, even when all other credentials are the same. In every state where there is sufficient data for comparison, people of color have far higher rates of poverty than whites. People of color constitute more than half of the 46 million people in American without health insurance, the infant mortality rate is higher for black Americans than any other group, and the life expectancy for black Americans is 5-7 years less than for white Americans. But we are an inclusive society, where people of color have been brought into the mainstream?
We can either call these things accidents, or we can stop pulling the wool over our eyes and look at how economic inequality and racial inequality are linked. We can continue claiming to be an equal, inclusive, “tolerant” society where all people have equal opportunity regardless of race, even though there is zero evidence of this, or we can be honest and deal with reality instead of superficial, empty claims of kumbaya, we are the world, all the little children, etc. that only serve to make white people feel better about themselves and the America they love oh so much.
We aren’t an inclusive society, and the reasons for disparity are not purely economic, although economics certainly figure in. The white community maintains this illusion because it is comforting, but it isn’t in any way real. We are in some ways more equal than we were 50 years ago, but more equal is not the same as actually equal. While the article does a good job of arguing that equality of condition and equality of opportunity are linked and the concept of a meritocracy is a pipe dream, it doesn’t do such a good job of debunking the myth that equality of condition and racial inequality aren’t linked.
I honestly have a difficult time even making it through your average agog-eyed Grey Lady news report these days. I’m thankful for people who can.
