A common belief is that you need to be against inequality to be progressive. Of course, you can define progressive to mean “opposed to all inequality,” but that evades a very important question. Are some forms of inequality desirable or acceptable? When you ask this question, the issue of meritocracy comes up. The thesis is that some people put in more effort, or have more skill, and we’re better off if those people get more rewards. Thus, meritocratic theory implies that you need some inequality. In this post, I want to talk about a different response to the question of “do we need inequality?” My argument: you might need inequality in order to create equality. Why? Equality often means you need to make something easily accessible and low cost and inequality is a simple and powerful tool for making that happen.
My argument starts with the following observation: it is hard to make everyone equal all at once. For example, let’s say I invent a super cool new cell phone, like the iPhone circa 2008. This device will definitely make people much better. So why don’t we just give it to everyone all at once? There are many reasons. For example, supplies are limited. You can’t instantly make 7 billion cell phones for everyone on earth. There are also distribution challenges and cultural barriers, such as whether people are actually able use iPhones such as low tech elderly people.
What is the solution to limited supplies, distributional problems, and cultural barriers? Inequality! For example, it is very common in tech for wealthier and younger consumers to buy more expensive versions of a gadget. The wealthy subsidize development of low cost versions of products that everyone can have and young hipsters try out the new stuff and teach us about the best stuff. In other words, equality in the consumption of many goods often is often subsidized by inequality.
Everything I just described is business 101: new products are often popularized by wealthier, younger, and more hip consumers. True, but this story is under-appreciated for its vast normative conclusions. A dynamic modern society is an interesting combination of forces that create equality and inequality and, in many cases, you get a situation where inequality leads equality. Equality and inequality are not always a zero-sum issue.
Bottom line: To get equality, you should let inequality lead the way - who knew?
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My books: Grad Skool Rulz - cheap advice manual for grad students / The history of Black Studies / Obama and the antiwar movement / A Social Theory book you will enjoy reading / Intro Sociology for $1 per chapter