InCome Inequality

Income Inequality

In most cases the rich are born into the rich and the poor are born into the poor. This does not mean the rich can become poor and the poor can become rich. The key problem with this is culture and socialization. If a child is raised in a poor community they are already at a disadvantage. They will learn the norms of a poor society and how to function as a poor member. It is very unlikely they will be taught the same values and beliefs of that of the rich. Resocialization is possible for everyone but most are at a greater disadvantage compared to others. This leads into the next topic, the Monopoly experiment which is a great representation of Park Avenue in New York. Paul K. Piff, a social psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley studies the psychology of wealth. He conducted an experiment that used the game Monopoly. In a normal game of Monopoly each player has an equal chance with all of the same opportunities, like the American dream but Piff rigged the game a little. Two people were chosen to play and a random player would be the rich person and the other would be the poor person. The rich player started with more money, rolled both dice and collected $200 after passing go each time. The poor played started with half the money of the rich player, only got to roll one of the dice and got $100 after passing go. This represents Park Avenue pretty closely. One side of the road is rich with all the advantages while the other side is the complete opposite. Today, the majority of Americans are at the disadvantage with 1% of the richest people collecting almost a quarter of American’s income.

The biggest question is how did this happen? The income growth distribution was not this unequal 30 years ago. Of course there will also be some income inequality but having it this extreme is harmful to America. The stratification today is huge. Maybe the problem is the correlation between money and power. If this is the case then the poor are basically powerless. The poor has lost the optimism America was once known by which has only given the rich more money and power. Minimum wage workers want a higher wage but they are only doing minimum wage work. It would be absurd to have a nurse and a cashier make the same income. The poor no longer strives for that upward increase in social mobility anymore. Instead, they deal with what they have and learn how