Money Talks
Economic Inequality in the UK is on an upward trend.
https://www.ft.com/content/fc4a3980-e86f-11e6-967b-c88452263daf
For citizenship this is important.
As reported by the Equality Trust,
‘’Income inequality changes the way people interact with other members of their society and engage in society itself’’. Findings include:
- Unequal societies have lower rates of both social and civic participation
- Higher rates of income inequality are linked to lower levels of voter turnout.
- Inequality is linked to lower levels of cultural activity.
A Marxist critique
Karl Marx, one of the most prominent forefathers when discussing class inequality, believed as many do that capitalism is an unfair system to base society on, only benefiting, in his terms, the bourgeoisie. In our current society poverty is a social norm brought about by unequal access to social and economic capital and distribution of wealth where people from poorer socio-economic backgrounds routinely live outside of mainstream society. One of the most important contributing factors to this inequality is education.
Educational Capital
The role of education in determining life chances has been written about extensively. I recognise from my own life how education has shaped my relationship with issues of citizenship. Coming from a poor working class background, I was taught in the early years of secondary school that black people were slaves and only served a purpose of filling a dominated inferior role to amuse white slave masters. The slaves were beaten and black women were raped regularly. However, a few years ago I was having a haircut and to my surprise on the wall were 100 photos of historical black inventors responsible for many great feats: something I did not learn about in school. Now as a student myself I recognise the issue of a white middle-class curriculum designed to keep others subordinated. It reads like a conspiracy, but the most notable of authors have written about the subject.
The outcomes of the Hidden Curriculum in education are predominantly worse for poorer children and people of colour, transmitting the values of the dominant class so that the structure of society is learnt through understanding the hierarchy of power – the school system itself replicates wider society where the hierarchy of occupations and classes is mirrored by the hierarchy of grade levels and achievement. Schools instead of preparing students or pupils to enter society with skills that will allow them to reflect critically upon and intervene in the world in order to change it, actually act as conservative forces to predominantly socialise students to conform to the Status Quo and moreover rewards those already with an advantage. The classroom is in effect a factory for producing subordinates
Why this matters
Schools do not demonstrate a true commitment to producing knowledge for civic engagement. Schools are supposed to offer equal opportunities and foster social mobility especially for poor and minority youth but there is little evidence this occurs. Marginalisation from the decision making processes in school mirrors life itself and forms the inequalities which I and many others have lived out.
It is interesting to consider this within the context of the outcomes for children’s mental health issues which are increasing year upon year. There is the risk that such disabilities will marginalize people further from civic life and while race itself is not an inequality, racism can cause inequality and black people have worse mental health outcomes than other groups. Inequality thus limits educational access denying the citizens’ ability to critically analyse their own circumstances. Poor people are oppressed and controlled by the very means that is supposed to free them (Freire)
Divide and Rule
Fanon talks about how race is a historically constructed phenomenon – not only must a black man be black, but he must be black in relation to the white man’s social superiority. Inferiority can only exist once people have been separated by their colour; these elements of inequality impact on a person’s place within society and can manifest themselves in various aspects of social exclusion as we have seen through poverty, racism, poor housing, and a sense of fatality. Negative portrayals of poor people can become the stereotype and powerful media exploit this. The scaremongers within the white middle class reinforce the negative self-perception and a failure to achieve intellectually becomes a form of self-fulfilling prophecy.
Ultimately the citizenship that the unequal should strive for lies in the power to change your life and that of others. Citizenship can only be found in conditions of equality – liberal notions of citizenship do not address the fundamental differences power creates. In fact they create divisions. The solution to inequality lies in the Communitarian model which offers common goals and shared values and a true sense of morality.
Leave a Reply