September 1, 2011
11:20 pm
Whether it was because of the fact that Washington was having a very heated debate about the debt crisis, or because it could very easily happen here; the riots that spread throughout England during the first few weeks of August, weren’t really talked about much on the US news. When it came down to officials trying to figure out what exactly had catapulted the nation into a state of panic, the loudest response they received were comments about the ever growing gap of inequality between the social classes.
Ever since the end of the riots, ‘class’ has become a social issue that is being more closely looked at and dissected. Polly Toynbee is a contributer for The Guardian and she has recently decided to take up this issue head on, by doing a series of columns and guest spots on Britain's radio station, Radio 4 . In her first column, Toynbee talks about recent studies that have suggested that the class you are in now, will probably be the class that your children, and their children, will be a part of. When you learn that, and then also look at some of the other facts that Toynbee brings up, for example, how the wealth gap in Britain has grown over just the past thirty years, it becomes awfully easy to understand the growing social unrest.
It is clear that the wealth gap is going to become a large social problem for England, I think that the riots started an awareness over the issue that might lead to a movement throughout the government that could hopefully lead to a peaceful and beneficial outcome.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/31/polly-toynbee-class-q-and-a?INTCMP=SRCH
1 comment:
When researching my article on "Ethnic Division in the Ivory Coast" I noticed that there was a coorelation between social classes and division. There is definately a coorelation between inequality and and ethnicity. Because, in both situations the cause of violence and issues was economic status. As a result, both in England and the Ivory Coast resorted to riots and violence.
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