Book Launch with Danny Dorling, Marxism, Friend’s Meeting House, London, July 5th 2010.

1. Watch the multimedia version of this presentation including video at
http://sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/presentations/
MARXISM 2010, London July 5th
Injustice:
Why social inequality persists
The claim: the five social evils identified by Beveridge in 1942 are gradually being
eradicated, they are being replaced by five new tenets of injustice -
elitism, exclusion, prejudice, greed and despair. [but we should think back, so I
have included a few pictures from the past in this talk]
Social injustices are now being recreated, renewed and supported by these five
new sets of unjust beliefs. We need to again begin to think differently, as some of
the ruling class last did in the 1920s and 1930s. This time will be different. Now -
far more than battles over resources - it is arguments over ideas which
perpetuate inequality, because in rich countries we have enough for all.
Danny Dorling
University of Sheffield - http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/injustice/

2. Five renewed tenets of Frank Horrabin‘s cartoons
(Staff Artist Sheffield
Injustice (renewed from the 1920s) Telegraph, 1906, London
Newspapers from 1911.
The five tenets of injustice are that: Example from the 1920s:
elitism is efficient, exclusion is
necessary, prejudice is natural,
greed is good and despair is
inevitable. Because of
widespread and growing
opposition to the five key unjust
beliefs, including the belief that
so many should now be ‗losers‘,
most of those advocating
injustice are careful with their
words. But those who believe in
these tenets are the majority in Hepple, L. W. (1999). "Socialist
Geography in England: J. F. Horrabin
power across almost all rich and a Workers' Economic and Political
countries. Geography." Antipode 31(1): 80-109.

3. Renewed Lies of Our
World maps of those on the
Times (renewed between 1950s-90s) lowest and highest incomes
living on under 1$ a day:
Although many of those who are
powerful may want to make the
conditions of life a little less painful
for others, they do not believe that
there is a cure for modern social
ills, or even that a few inequalities
…over 200$ a day:
can be much alleviated. Rather,
they believe that just a few
children are sufficiently able to be
fully educated and only a few of
those are then able to govern; the
rest must be led. They believe that
the poor will always be with us no source: www.worldmapper.org
See Dorling, D. and Pritchard J., 2010, The Geography
matter how rich we are… It is their of Poverty, Inequality and Wealth in the UK and abroad:
because enough is never enough, ASAP Journal.
beliefs that uphold injustice

4. Emrys Hughes MP (46-66), 1932:
Labourservatives?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jun/22/budget
-2010-osborne-key-words# from 2010 and, from 1932:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/images/chaos

5. City of Sheffield – Age 18-21
1. From ignorance… destinations of 15 year olds
2001-2007
 In 1942 illiteracy was Orange = mostly full-time work
widespread and Pink = new university ( away)
numeracy was even Red = pre 1992, ‗old‘ university
worse. James Flynn has
shown how much we have
improved since (see his book
‗What is Intelligence‘, 2007)
 However, educational Hallam
apartheid in the UK has risen Constituency
(Nick Clegg‘s)
as the majority of additional
A Tale of Two Cities: The Sheffield
qualifications in recent Project (University of Sheffield 2009)
decades have been awarded http://sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/research/
to a minority of young adults sheffield/

6. City of Sheffield – Age 18-21
…to elitism destinations of 15 year olds –
Second most likely destination
 A seventh of children in 2001-2007
affluent countries are now Pink = new university ( away)
routinely described as Red = pre 1992, ‗old‘ university
Yellow = apprenticeship
―found limited or simple Green = unemployed
at learning‖ by the OECD
 Many now again believe that
the ‗ability‘ of children is
distributed along a bell-curve Hillsborough
with little chance for most of Brightside
rising much above their set
Attercliffe
potential Central
 This elitism is erroneously Heeley
seen as being somehow
efficient

7. elitism is efficient – because some are
strong and some are weak?
―…every new school acquiring
academy freedoms will be
expected to support at least Is this man ―the
one faltering or coasting strong‖ or ―the
weak‖? Does he
school to improve. We are
need liberating?
liberating the strong to help
the weak - a key principle
behind the coalition
Government‖ (Gove, Hansard 21/6/2010)
Is this helpful or patronising?
Picture credit: Michael Gove, Secretary of State
for Education, 8 May 2010 by Paul Clarke
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michael_Gove.jpg

8. Sources include:
GDP 1929-2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/200
9/nov/25/gdp-uk-1948-growth-economy
1955 2009

9. 2. From want …
 In 1942, for the first time in The keys to poverty
Maps used to read like this:
Britain, many of the poor
did not go hungry thanks
to rationing
 Absolute material
deprivation was reduced
to the point where obesity
became associated with
poverty
 Social segregation has Source: B. Seebohm
Rowntree, 2000
increased as real financial (1901), Poverty: a
rewards and benefits to those study of town life,
worse off have fallen — just Bristol: The Policy
Press
as the riches of the wealthy Poverty in York:
have grown

10. … to exclusion Carry on as we are & soon
maps might again read like
this (Booth’s 1890s map):
 a sixth of people in the more
unequal rich countries are Yellow: Upper-middle and Upper classes. Wealthy
Red: Well-to-do. Middle-class
‗debarred‘: excluded from Pink: Fairly comfortable. Good ordinary earning
full membership of society Purple: Mixed. Some comfortable, others poor
Pale Blue: Poor – homes of moderate families
because of poverty. A much Dark blue: Very poor, casual. Chronic want
smaller proportion exclude Black: Lowest class. Vicious, semi-criminal
themselves from social norms
by dint of their wealth.
 Questioning these extremes
is far from encouraged
 Exclusion has become
accepted as a new necessity,
both the super-rich and
widespread inequality have
become acceptable

11. exclusion is necessary
(according to the rich)
Who told George its unaffordable?
George Osborne‘s Budget Speech,
June 2010: ―Sadly, there are
further benefits which the
country can no longer afford.
So we will abolish the poorly-
targeted Health in Pregnancy
Grant from April 2011.‖
But is that grant unaffordable?
In fact the annual cost would be very
similar to Barclay‘s ‗President‘ Bob
Diamond‘s (disputed) £63 million
annual ‗compensation‘.
£63m figure from: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics-
news/2010/04/04/peter-mandelson-s-anger-at-banker-s-
63m-pay-86908-22161500/ PictureCredit: George
speaking in 2009 at Keele University, taken by M. Holland:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:George_Osborne_0437.jpg

12. Why is £190 not affordable?: cutting benefit
- even child benefit from the unborn….
Who can get Health in Pregnancy
Grant? [until April 2011]
You can get the grant if all of the
following apply:
 you are 25 weeks pregnant or more
 you have been given health advice
from a midwife or doctor
 you may not get the grant if:
 you are subject to immigration
control or
 you are not present, ordinarily
resident or have a right to reside in
the UK
How much do you get?
 The grant will be a one-off payment
of £190 for each pregnancy. It will http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Fetus_a
not affect your tax credits or any mniotic_sac.jpg - public domain image
other benefits. Everyone will get the The last group of mothers who will be eligible for the grant will
same amount – you will not be be those who find out they are pregnant around Christmastime
this year. From then on the poor get poorer, including the
asked about your income. unborn poor. Child benefit can take three months to arrive.

13. Policy graphics
1933 and 2010
 The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jun/24/budg
et-2010-ifs-cuts-data#zoomed-picture
 My plan for 2,000,000 workless, by Ernest Bevin,
Clarion Press, 1933

14. 3. From idleness…
 In the 1930s millions of
people were desperate for a
job … any job
 That desperation was
eradicated by creating new
employment and providing
better social security
 But a wider racism has
developed, a new social
Darwinism, which sees some
people as inherently less
deserving and able than
those who ‗need‘ great
rewards to work in ‗top jobs‘ Frank Horrabin (Socialist Geographer)
See slide two above for source.

15. …to prejudice
 a fifth of adults in countries
like Britain and the United
States are now serial
―debtors‖. Rising inequalities
in income and wealth have
made it more likely that
people get into debt in order
to keep up with their peer
group and avoid being judged
‗undeserving‘, of living in the
wrong place, or of just It is hard to imagine large numbers of
wearing the wrong clothes. people. Above are the million people who
filled the National Mall at Barack Obama‘s
 This prejudice is being inauguration. One million people in the UK
painted as natural – as aged 25 and under have no work and no
place in college. Image: http://www.rferl.org/content/
Darwinian. Barack_Obama_Sworn_In_As_US_President/1372515.html

16. prejudice is natural – are millions on the
dole because others are ‗worth‘ fortunes?
―The Chairman of bailed-out RBS has
acknowledged that bankers are
overpaid. Sir Philip Hampton said
that salary persists to be
'astonishingly high', but claimed
that he had no option but to shell
out the going rate for best
talent.…[top people get] average
take-home pay of more than
£240,000 this year. … Sir Philip
said, ―If we don't pay our top people
they leave very quickly. Our top
people are very much in demand
and we have seen a significant loss Image from Story titled: ―RBS Chief Acknowledges His
Staff is Overpaid‖ 5 January 2010:
of our top people‖.‖ http://topnews.net.nz/content/23704-rbs-chief-
acknowledges-his-staff-overpaid
5 January 2010, as reported around
Image: http://topnews.net.nz/images/Sir-Philip-
the world (this from New Zealand). Hampton.jpg

17. Income Inequality, share
4. From squalor… Held by richest 1%, 1918-2005+
 After 1942 unprecedented
numbers of households were
homeless, the eradication of
slums was a priority
 Most spending on housing
was initially for those who
most needed housing Electoral Inequality, Segregation Index
 But now a mantra is widely of Tory voters, 1918-2005+
Sources: ‗Injustice‘ Chapter 5
accepted that for those who + New Statesman (2010)
have most to spend, their
spending is necessary at
almost any cost, including
growing global inequalities
and mounting debt

18. Inequality, in survival chances
…to greed to age 65 in Britain, 1918-2005+ [BMJ]
 a quarter of households in
Britain are ‗discarded‘ in
terms of social inclusion.
 Many cannot afford to run a
car while others have more
cars than they can drive.
 Foreign holidays are Income inequality (X axis) verses Health
advertised as normal, inequalities (Y axis) in Britain, 1918-2005
whereas increasing numbers 32%
30%
of households cannot afford a 28%
single annual holiday 26%
 Greed is presented as good, 24%
22%
welcomed as what now 20%
"1931"
drives our model of economic 18%
growth, not ‗duty‘ but ‗greed‘ 16%
0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% 20%

19. greed is good
―It may not be pretty
but, on the whole,
greed is good‖
Preston, R. (2008). Who runs
Britain? How the super-rich
are changing our lives.
London, Hodder & Stoughton.
(page 336).
Picture Credit: Robert Peston,
BBC Economics Editor, 20
June 2007, London, taken by
Steve Punter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Peston,_June_2007.jpg

20. 5. From disease… The
distribution
of ―top‖
 In 1942 a near bankrupt
bankers in
country planned the Britain –
introduction of efficient drawn by
Ben Hennig
national health care
on an equal
 The NHS and reduced social population
inequality, resulting in a great map.
reduction in suffering and fear
of physical disease
 But anxiety rose in place of
disease, best understood as
a symptom of living in times
and places when wide
inequalities are seen as
acceptable

21. The rate of prescribing anti-
…to despair depressants by the NHS in
Scotland, 1992-2006 (anti-
depressant daily doses per
 a third of families in Britain 1000 people aged 15+
now contain someone who (Injustice Chapter 7)
suffers depression or
chronic anxiety disorder. The
result of living in more
unequal affluent countries is
to harm the mental well-being
of people in general and US mortgage debt 1977-now
especially adolescents, who
now face such uncertain
futures
 Despair is becoming seen as
inevitable, the symptoms
% annual change and $billions
require mass medication, but
what of the causes…?

22. If you believe the five tenets
despair is inevitable - of social injustice then the
last tenet is self-fulfilling
there is no alternative
Despair is inevitable:
 Celebrity culture dominates
 Winner takes all capitalism
 Political parties run by neo-
aristocrats and millionaires
 Praying for technological
fixes to environmental ruin
 Universities become private
schools with ‗market‘ fees
 ―Those in greatest need
ultimately bear the burden of
paying off the debt‖ Various sources. Ms Diaz is
more popular than ‗Dave‘.
[Bob Neill, Conservative Local Government Minister, June 2010 Caroline Bonarde‘s image is
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/06/15/david- from ―Shrek the Third‖
blunkett-on-how-the-poor-stand-to-suffer-under-the- premier:http://commons.wiki
condem-coalition-115875-22334187/ ] media.org/wiki/File:Cameron_
Diaz_June_07.jpg

23. But inequality is expensive. In money,
learning, respect, labour, housing and lives.
Among the world‘s richest 25 countries:
There are many alternatives:
The most unequal are:
By 90: 10 income ratios 1) There are alternatives in our recent past
17.7 Singapore (-) (1918-1968/78 and earlier still).
15.9 US (20) 2) There are alternatives abroad.
15.0 Portugal (-) Inequalities in Social Injustice is lower
13.8 UK (22) almost everywhere else in the OECD
13.4 Israel (-)
3) There are alternatives in our
imaginations, where so many have never
And the most equal are:
been as free to think as they are now –
6.9 Germany (14)
especially in the countries which are
6.2 Sweden (8)
already much more equal than is the UK
6.1 Norway (8)
5.6 Finland (10)
Social Inequality damages our collective
4.5 Japan (-)
ability to think clearly – all of us
Source: note 37 page 327 of ‘Injustice’ Why social Danny Dorling
inequality persists. The Figures given in brackets are
UNDP 2009 % aged 16-65 lacking literacy University of Sheffield -
http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/injustice/

24. Conclusion
To consume less, you need to feel
you have more in common with other
people.
If success is about having a lot of
money,
success is about consuming more
and wasting more.
Consumption by everybody is less
in countries where everyone is more
equal.
All affluent countries need to reduce
their levels of consumption by
reducing social inequalities.
Through their dominance of global
media and marketing the rest of the
world usually looks up towards richer
countries.
What example are the rich
providing?

25. Watch the multimedia version of this presentation including video at
http://sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/presentations/