“Over the past 30 years Chile came to be viewed as the one country in Latin America on the path to developed-country status…. Governed by the centre-left for 24 of those years, it has combined economic growth, political stability, fairly strong institutions and expanding social services. Those below the official poverty line (of $206 per month) fell from 45% of the population in the mid-1980s to 9%.” - “Can Chile reinvent itself? Why the country’s citizens are so angry” The Economist March 12th 2020 edition
And then in October the Chilean authorities decided to raise the price of peak-hour metro tickets and all hell broke out. First peaceful protests, then violence and looting. At least 30 people dead. Why is this happening to Latin America’s most successful economy? One view, common to the left, is that the people are rebelling against inequality and the failure of modern capitalism. The people say otherwise. Take a look:
Chileans have very concrete demands: fix pensions, healthcare and the school system. Fixing these things would reduce inequality but that’s not the point. The point is financial security in old age, access to affordable high-quality healthcare, and equal opportunity through equal education. In other words, what Chileans want is pretty much what Americans want. Call it the Chilean Dream.
A few years ago, Pew Research Center conducted a survey on what Americans considered essential to their version of the American Dream. A majority of respondents endorsed “freedom of choice in how to live”, “Have a good family life”, and “retire comfortably”. Just 11% endorsed “to become wealthy”. Per years of monthly Gallup polls as well as a recent NPR poll, most Americans simply don’t consider inequality a pressing problem. The fact that some people are super-rich isn’t that important to most of us. And it’s not just Americans (or Chileans). A large majority of Brits don’t care that much about inequality either. No wonder the Labour party did so poorly in their last election.
The media and academic establishment have been hammering the American public for decades about the evils of inequality. And yet the public continues to shrug it off. Why? Here are some possibilities:
A lot of people don’t crave what rich people have.
A lot of people believe that achieving important life goals is largely within their control.
A lot of people consider the economic system to be generally fair.
There is a school of thought that, despite years of screaming headlines, the masses haven’t risen up in revolt because, being bad at math, they don’t grasp the extent of inequality.
Nope, it’s that they just don’t care.
Reference:
Smith, H. J., T. F. Pettigrew, et al. (2011). "Relative Deprivation: A Theoretical and Meta-Analytic Review." Personality and Social Psychology Review 16(3): 203-232.