Bogatii, paria societatii

In articolul „Status and egalitarianism in traditional communities: An analysis of funeral attendance in six Zimbabwean villages”, scris de Abigail Barr si Mattea Stein, ambii de Universitatea Oxford, si publicat in octombrie 2008, se arata ca in societatile traditionale, bogatii sunt priviti cu suspiciune si marginalizati social, tratati cu lipsa de respect. Astfel, autorii explica, se demonstreaza ca populatia acestor comunitati pastreaza o mentalitate egalitarista, privindu-i cu dezaprobare pe cei care indraznesc sa incalce norma egalitatii.

„This paper explores two hypotheses concerning the role of status in relationships between rich and poor in traditional communities by analyzing who goes to whose funerals in six Zimbabwean villages. Funerals allow status to be observed because non-attendance is a sign of disrespect. We find that the richer a household hosting a funeral, the less likely heads of neighbouring households are to attend. Thus, the status-for-insurance hypothesis that the poor bestow status upon the rich in return for help in times of need is rejected in favour of the egalitarianism hypothesis that richer households are denied status.”

In ce consta ipoteza egalitarista la care se refera autorii?
Imbogatirea unora, rezultat al norocului si al saracirii altora
„Individual accumulation is viewed as a norm violation, punishable through status reduction. Drawing on extensive sociological and anthropological literatures, Platteau proposes a number of reasons why egalitarian norms should be prevalent in traditional societies. In particular, egalitarian norms are closely associated with a worldview in which the fate of humans depends on supernatural forces and economic prosperity is a zero-sum game. So, economic success is attributable not to effort but to luck and good luck for one person implies bad luck for someone else. According to this view, it is unfair for a successful individual to keep the fruits of that success to himself and accumulation, especially, will arouse feelings of envy and even hatred as it
will be perceived as enriching oneself at the expense of others. Further, individuals (or households) who are continuously successful over several years, will attract suspicion as persistent 'luck' is not normal and may be attributable to the malicious manipulation of supernatural forces, i.e., to the use of witchcraft (Platteau, 2000: Chapter 5.3). Thus, more prosperous households are likely to be subjected to status reduction.”

Imbogatirea unora, pericol pentru coeziunea sociala a grupului
„Another reason why egalitarian norms may prevail in traditional societies is that they obviate a positional arms race for status (Platteau, 2006: 828) that could endanger village cohesiveness. In the literature on subjective well-being, it has been shown that people care about their relative economic status (Easterlin (1995), Stutzer (2004), Kingdon and Knight (2007)). Village life is characterized by frequent interactions between a limited number of people with highly personalized relationships; therefore, in small village societies, the enhancement of one's relative position is potentially a strong motivation for individual actions. If status were a positive function of prosperity, one individual's eorts to accumulate wealth would induce others to follow suit, stimulating competition and triggering a positional arms race. In this sense,the very dynamic of modification of relative status positions is perceived as a dangerous force susceptible of jeopardizing the fragile social equilibria typical of small-group societies”.

Fara a mai cita, din nou, date in sprijinul acestor afirmatii, nu se poate nega faptul ca mentalitatea oamenilor din societatile traditionale contine o buna doza de adevar. Anume ca averile depind de noroc, de infractiuni si alte comportamente la limita legii, de saracirea altor membrii ai grupului si ca ea creaza invidie si un raport disproportionat de forte in colectivitate, pe care o slabeste astfel, lovind in coeziunea sociala.

Mai departe, Abigail Barr si Mattea Stein demonstreaza ca in numeroase astfel de societati traditionale, cu cat un decedat a fost mai bogat, cu atat mai putini oameni vor lua parte la inmormantarea sa. Astfel, comunitatea isi arata ostilitatea si dezaprobarea pentru cel mort, desi in cultura locului funeraliile au o importanta deosebita si, in plus, ei ar fi putut fi ajutati material de urmasii celor trecuti in nefiinta.

Autorii conclud:
„In contrast, the egalitarianism hypothesis stated that there is a negative relationship between economic prosperity and status because the rich are denied status as a punishment for violating the egalitarian norm.
Our principle innovation was to use data on funeral attendance in six Zimbabwean villages to infer the status of funeral hosting households. We, then, analyzed this data in conjunction with data on household income and other household attributes using a dyadic approach.
The resulting estimates indicated that the richer a household hosting a funeral, the less likely heads of neighbouring households are to attend. This finding provides strong evidence against the status-for-insurance hypothesis and in favour of the egalitarianism hypothesis.”

Rezultatele acestui studiu sunt utile deoarece arata ca pana si oamenii simpli, care traiesc relativ izolati de restul umanitatii, au o oroare practic innascuta fata de inegalitatile sociale. Pentru ei, fara a fi aflat de rezultatele unor studii elaborate pe tema nocivitatii precum cele prezentate pe acest blog, existenta bogatilor este un lucru nefiresc, o abatere de la legea naturala care trebuie si merita sa fie pedepsita. Desi nu suficient in sine, acest lucru ne poate indreptati in buna masura sa consideram ca natura umana este mai inclinata spre egalitarism decat spre o societate inegala, care permite existenta bogatasilor.