Almost all listings of our present discontents include inequality. I believe that gross inequality is the greatest threat to building a just and peaceful society. It is worth reflecting on why this may be so.
In itself inequality is not harmful. It is part of the diversity proper in any human society. But the inequality that is now in question is toxic because it is extreme when measured by any scale, and because it is programmed to increase. It is self-perpetuating and self-intensifying. The increase of wealth of the few entails the marginalisation and impoverishment of others.
Fortunately, it is now notorious and is rightly resented. The cultural beliefs that have previously allowed radical inequality to be accepted as acceptable in a society have frayed. The religious understanding that each person has their God appointed station in life is no longer persuasive.
The ideological substitute — the belief that all in society benefit from unregulated economic competition — is now seen as the self-serving nonsense it has always been. Its fruits are rotten. Economic growth is now tested for fairness. It is no longer accepted as a good for which people can be sacrificed.
Resentment at the injustice inherent in an economy governed by greed ought to lead to the recognition that wealth has a social bond and is at the service of the common good, particularly to help the disadvantaged. That cooperative vision alone will lead to actions that redress increasing disparity of wealth and the resentment that its effects generate.
Much current evidence, however, suggests that resentment prompts behaviour which will intensify inequality, and so will increase resentment itself.
Resentment focuses attention on the wrongs done to oneself and not on the claims of others. So it strengthens the belief, fostered by neoliberal economic theory, that society is made up of competitive individuals and groups, and that consequently the political process is concerned with furthering one's own interests at the expense of others. It encourages a sense of entitlement.
The wealthy believe they are entitled to increase their wealth and dispose of it as they wish. Politicians believe they are entitled to the perks of office and retirement. Sectional groups believe they are entitled to have their interests served.
"Social democracy is based on trust that, through their representatives, citizens will consider the good of the whole nation and of its people. The disillusionment caused by governments extending inequality imposes great strain."
Each group regards others as