The American dream - a myth
I happened to have BBC and Al Jazeera at the time of the US election. One thing that strikes me is how well the myth that the US is the country where anybody can become somebody is nurtured and now Obama is taken as an example of that. I don't know his biography, but I am sure he doesn't come from the slums.....
Just a few weeks ago the Economist had an article on social mobility. Expressed as the correlation between the income of the father and the sun (sorry girls but if women were included it would perhaps say more about gender discrimination than social mobility I guess), the USA and the UK came out very badly, i,e if the father is rich the son is likely to be rich, and most diturbingly the same if they are poor. France also came out badly, while e.g. the Scandinvan countries did a lot better. Probably beacuse they have realised that there is such a big favour to have rich parents that they made all kind of efforts to mitigate that.
(now the manager of the internetcaf''e comes and tell me not to type so hard.....)
G
Just a few weeks ago the Economist had an article on social mobility. Expressed as the correlation between the income of the father and the sun (sorry girls but if women were included it would perhaps say more about gender discrimination than social mobility I guess), the USA and the UK came out very badly, i,e if the father is rich the son is likely to be rich, and most diturbingly the same if they are poor. France also came out badly, while e.g. the Scandinvan countries did a lot better. Probably beacuse they have realised that there is such a big favour to have rich parents that they made all kind of efforts to mitigate that.
(now the manager of the internetcaf''e comes and tell me not to type so hard.....)
G
Kommentarer
Postat av: Missbildad Unge
Postat av: Lina
Vad spännande med ett sabbatsår, sånt tror jag är nyttigt, själv älskar jag att resa och bilade runt i europa i somras, hur tar du dig fram?
Postat av: gunnar
cykel
Postat av: kari
I have read the Obama book about his father, well the father was not poor, he made it to US. He has been the dream of his family. I am afraid that he at the end will not change much. For the moment he says: more soldiors to Afganistan........
Postat av: Lena
hahaha, du får ta det lugnt med tangenterna! Jag är ju lite likadan & slår också ganska hårt.. Men det är inte på långa vägar så hårt som du!
Trackback
