research article on constructive influence of physics in society
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Pharmakon V: Culture Wars—Trickle-Down Economics vs. Trickle-Down Morality
Duluxan Sritharan
10/14/2020
(Nathan Klima)
“Without this circumspection, advocacy appears heavy-handed, tone-deaf, mistimed, and ultimately self-defeating, to the detriment of the downtrodden.”
Imagine walking by two quarrelers and hearing one blurt out in exasperation, “It’s all about the money with you!” Without any context, is it possible to discern whether the remark is a deserved rebuke for being miserly, betrays petulant insensitivity to inescapable material constraints, or merely reflects momentary frustration in an ultimately subjective disagreement about value proposition? The propriety of this outburst has little to do with the value of the item under debate but is instead contingent on the difference in socioeconomic status between the two quarrelers. Disagreements over million-dollar heirlooms may be par the course for beneficiaries of a vast family estate. Young couples often have innocent squabbles over what to do with the little they have saved up by the month’s end. An uninsured patient bitterly reproving an unyielding doctor with these words is heart-breaking. A banker chastising a homeless panhandler’s solicitation in this manner is outrageous.
Now suppose that the quarrelers knew nothing of each other’s station in life. How likely then is it for one of them to have this outburst? It will depend on how they were reared, the socioeconomic landscape and their awareness of it, their estimation of what the life of someone outside their class looks like, their sense of entitlement over the cards they were dealt, and the norms of their peer group, among other factors. A wealthy patrician in the Red Tory tradition of noblesse oblige would be deeply ashamed if these words escaped his lips in a moment of discomposure and may, in turn, secretly welcome such reproach in helping him guide his philanthropic efforts. French nobility during the time of the Ancien Régime, on the other hand, supposedly went even further and snorted “Let them eat cake!” In short, adherence to a sense of propriety is determined by culture.
Lastly, suppose that the siloed lifestyle of the rich in a culture of self-importance predisposes them to pile on demands and retort with such remarks when denied, without any sense of self-awareness. Their put-upon compatriots—raised with an attitude of forbearance but having their accommodative nature constantly provoked—would eventually reach a breaking point and lash out with resentment. The ensuing discord could accurately be characterized as a culture war, whereby the norms under which the rich and poor were raised set them on a collision course.