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Article: Moving up the ladder: how equality reinforces inequality.(Column)
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- August 16, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Throughout the long course of human history, systems of social inequality have run into trouble because of self-defeating prejudices. Talented members of the lower classes have been refused admission to the higher classes. This is foolish of the higher classes; for if they had co-opted the talented few from below, these talents would serve the interests of those above. As it is, these rejected talents have been forced to remain in the lower classes, providing leadership, organization, and ideas. As a result, eventually the lower classes become formidable rivals to their social betters.
This was all explained nearly a hundred years ago by the Italian ...