W.W. Norton has released a fun little animation answering this thorny question. It has to do with abundance and hoarding, and the technological innovations that underlie these things, as well as government’s willingness to redistribute wealth.
Enjoy:
See more of Norton’s videos at their YouTube channel.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 11
RG — October 6, 2012
This is interesting, but the statistics are hugely off, especially involving illiteracy and malnutrition: http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/populate.asp
WHY IS THERE INEQUALITY? « Welcome to the Doctor's Office — October 6, 2012
[...] from SocImages [...]
Alexander — October 6, 2012
What comforting phrasing regarding inequality of wealth! "Those six and us ninety-four."
Vadim McNab — October 6, 2012
Equal opportunity not equal outcome.
Yrro Simyarin — October 7, 2012
Yes, the real problem is the "rich" civilizations are hording the wealth, not that they are the only ones who have managed to build the societal and physical infrastructure to solve the incredibly difficult problem of creating wealth in the first place. Wealth doesn't just exist waiting to be picked up and distributed.
He also has a very rosy view of the time before storage that is not backed up by any study of anthropology I have seen.
Jesus — October 7, 2012
The nature of man is conflict-- in a word, war.
pduggie — October 8, 2012
Its funny when the video uses "she" to describe the origins of inequality. On the one hand, you go counter to the male pronoun dominance. On the other hand, you make it sound like women who can food are to blame for starting inequality and not sharing.