USA Africa Dialogue Series - WEALTH AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR

In Western scholarly discourse, since the time of Karl Marx, social scientists have believed that social inequality and social class differences have consequences for social consciousness and the behavior and choices that accompany that in turn. Indeed one might say that this debate goes back to the ancient Greeks. 

Below is a video clip of about 10 minutes from American Public Television on an experiment in psychology related to the impact of social inequality on human consciousness and behavior. In sociology, the conclusion is not something surprising. 

What came to my mind after watching it is how the widening wealth inequality across Africa in spite phenomenal economic growth can make many countries suffer from the kinds of problems that the research discovers i.e., the culture of entitlement among the rich and privilege, which makes it difficult for them to see the broader forces and social processes working in society and how they negatively affect others and the struggle for a more just adn egalitarian society. 

The research found out that the findings apply to both conservatives and liberals. One wonders whether religious people are totally immune from what the research considers to be the negative consequences of widening inequality on how we see ourselves in relation to others as mediated by "things" we feel entitled to or deserve.

From PBS (in case you haven't already seen this).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IuqGrz-Y_Lc


Samuel

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