On Wed, 28 Mar 2001 16:42:13 -0500 John Mage <jmage at panix.com> writes:
> Patrick Ellis wrote:
>
> > At 05:04 PM 3/27/01 -0800, John Gulick wrote:
> > >Do you/we really want to make the argument that Society A is
> better
> > >than Society B b/c there is a higher degree of inter-generational
> mobility in
> > >Society A ? Both Society A and Society B have a persistent and
> tenacious
> > >social class structure, one grounded in unfreedom and
> exploitation, but in
> > >Society A there is more upward (and hence downward) mobility.
> >
> > The point in Denmark being the #1 country for social mobility
> versus the US
> > being the worst among the countries studied is that in Denmark
> there isn't
> > a hell of a difference between the top & the bottom, while in the
> US there
> > is. If someone moves from one quartile to another in Denmark
> they're not
> > really moving all that far, which of course makes it easier to
> make such a
> > move. In other words, the reason they have mobility is precisely
> because
> > they don't have a "persistent and tenacious social class
> structure."
>
> Oh, but the Danes most certainly do have a "persistent and tenacious
> social class structure." What they also have is relatively
> egalitarian
> income distribution due to redistributive social spending. And
> therefore
> movement between income quartiles is, as Patrick says, not "moving
> all
> that far."
>
> But as any honest Dane will tell you, the relatively egalitarian
> income
> distribution masks "persistent and tenacious" class privileges.
> Wealth
> distribution is very unequal. For example, landlords have not lost
> their
> power and privilege even under a fairly, and firmly, administered
> rent
> control system.
>
> The persistence and tenacity of the social class structure is,
> however,
> relatively transparent to Danes (as opposed to the mystification - a
> brew composed of racism, sexism, primitive religious beliefs, and
> relentless propaganda/entertainment - that disguises the ruling
> class in
> the U.S.).
>
> In other words, it is precisely awareness of persistent social class
> structure that has enabled, so far, the Danish working class to
> obtain a
> relatively egalitarian income distribution.
And one might add this relatively egalitarian income distribution that is characteristic of Scandinavia is in large part the legacy of vociferous and even violent class struggles that were fought by Scandinavian workers back in the 1920s and 1930s. Given the fact that the USSR was not too far away, the ruling classes there saw that the negotiation of compromises with the workers was in their best long term interests. And certainly, the history of the past half century or so had shown that capitalism there has managed to thrive under social democratic constraints.
Jim Farmelant
>
> john mage
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