Income Inequality
“Income means something very important within our societies and nothing in between them,” Richard Wilkinson says.
Wilkinson, a social epidemiologist, discussed economic inequality’s potent influence on a society in a 2011 Ted Talk. He then proved that significant wealth gaps in countries, like the U.S., concern all its people.
In America, income inequality has a more clear, apparent impact on lower classes. Less money means fewer resources, leading to fewer opportunities. Fewer opportunities translate as a lower chance for upward social mobility. All the more, the U.S.’s income inequalities are still expanding. The bonus culture, accessibility to tax havens and lack of accountability to employees are contributing factors for the widening gap. Basically, the top 20% is garnering more of the total wealth, leaving lower-class Americans salvaging from a smaller portion.
However, large wealth gaps wane the entire society’s cultural development and psychosocial well-being. Greater wealth inequality creates a more socially stressful society, affecting its people on an individual level. For instance, there are more perceived social-evaluation threats. Researchers Dickerson SS and Kemeny ME of UCLA say that this type of stress produces the highest levels of cortisol, the primary stress hormone. The large wealth gap is also fueling the capitalistic culture in America, enhancing competitiveness, distrust and selfishness.
Social inequalities come with compelling, underlying forces that extend to every person regardless of social class. They carve the behaviors and relationships within that society, characterizing our experiences and interactions with one another. Unfortunately, the lower-class Americans must face not only the social and cultural repercussions of income inequality, but also the accompanying financial and social mobility issues of their situation.
