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Income inequality in America has been growing rapidly, and is expected to increase [PDF]. While the widening wealth gap is a hot topic in the media and on the campaign trail, there's quite a disconnect between the perceptions of economists and those of the general public.
For instance, surveys show people tend to underestimate the income disparity between the top and bottom 20% of Americans, and overestimate the opportunity for poor individuals to climb the social ladder. Additionally, a majority of adults believe that corporations conduct business fairly despite evidence to the contrary and that the government should not act to reduce income inequality.
Even though inequality is increasing, Americans seem to believe that our social and economic systems work exactly as they should. This perspective has intrigued social scientists for decades. My colleague Andrei Cimpian and I have demonstrated in our recent research that these beliefs that our society is fair and just may take root in the first years of life, stemming from our fundamental desire to explain the world around us.
http://theconversation.com/lifes-not-fair-so-why-do-we-assume-it-is-45981
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 12 2015, @09:02PM
Gates never was a poor kid. The man went to private school [notablebiographies.com]. There, he "began studying computers in the seventh grade". This must have been in 1966, a time when most people hadn't even seen a computer from up close. Talk of opportunities not available to the majority of the population.
Hawkings' parents went to Oxford university [wikipedia.org]. That's not to dismiss the possibility that he would have gotten roughly where he is now otherwise, just that it is not a valid example.
Which leaves us with no examples, really. Disappointing, isn't it?