There are several indices that measure poverty and no country wants to be known for the penury of its population, or for inequality and unemployment. But, there is also malaise and a lingering sense of discontent in countries that are relatively well off.
Despite the fact that even the very poor can survive on the dole or social security in rich nations, discontent is rife in many countries, and people are living on edge because there is anger and resentment over perceived inequalities.
However, compared to where people were before the relative comforts of modern living improved conditions, these whining hordes in rich nations are in clover. Particularly in the West, they have access to easy mass transit, decent houses, and sustainable living with food and daily essentials being easy to come by.
Societies
What ails these societies at least in part is the constant pressure to acquire more, and live up to what is portrayed as the ideal. Nobody is content, because socially, people are conditioned to be chronically malcontent.
The advertising industry, and generally social media along with other channels of information drives intense competition where people feel the need to outdo each other and live up to the so-called social ideals of the day. These include driving a certain model of car, possessing a certain type of phone, and belonging to various exclusive clubs and social institutions.
In sum, then, the discontents in these societies are not about want, but the fact that people feel they don’t have what the other person possesses. It is in other words, an envy-driven system where self-worth is measured by how a person compares with a certain perceived ideal, and not by the general yardstick of whether they are able to live contented lives, with what’s minimally necessary for modern living.
Most people have more than what’s required to live comfortably, and this includes running water, electricity and easy access to nutritious meals. But yet, even though health and security are assured for most people, there is greater discontent among the relatively rich, than among those who live in less abundant environments, who may officially even be skirting the statistical threshold of poverty.
In Sri Lanka, some of the middle class folk are not poor, but feel they are. A World Bank official has recently said that while the economy of this country improves, there is an increasing chance that people that have fallen below the poverty line will continue to suffer lives of penury amid some economic progress registered overall across the rest of the economy.
But, while there is no doubt that there are segments of the population that are dangerously poor, it is also true that it is not those who are wallowing below the poverty line that strive to emigrate, and establish themselves abroad. Those who are unemployed and poor suffer due to want. It is not a life that is easy by any means, and certainly not a condition that can be justified in this day and age.
However, these people are not necessarily those who harbour a deep sense of discontent. They are not necessarily those who are prone to violence, or to disruption of the system through targeted acts of civil disobedience.
Those who are at the forefront of Movements for radical change, including Student Movements, are those who are generally better educated, and can envisage brighter prospects in life than the poverty stricken who wallow in abysmal conditions in urban ghettos.
But the more comfortably well off people are, the more they seem in a sense, to be constantly discontented. This is not in any way to seek to diminish the suffering of those who constantly suffer the effects of abject poverty.
But it is to say that the ‘suffering’ of the modern day and age is of two types. It is the real suffering of those who are abjectly poor, and the perceived suffering of those who compare themselves unfavourably with those who are better off than they are.
This latter type of poverty is the most unsettling for most societies. People are constantly bombarded by various channels of information that makes them feel inadequate if they don’t live up to the standards achieved by their peers, X or Y.
Some may feel compelled to send their children abroad for education and higher education when there are ample opportunities available here that are affordable to most people. But making use of these opportunities simply won’t do because the neighbours are rich, and they have sent their children to be schooled in Australia.
So, it seems there are mounting standards of achievement to aspire to, making people feel they are stuck in a competitive loop. The moment they acquire that particular brand of automobile that they don’t need, they feel they should aspire to something else that is the fad of the season among certain similarly placed individuals.
Consumerism
This relentless consumerism is said to drive economies, because the more people consume, the more economic output that’s generated and the more jobs that are created and so forth. But the social costs are enormous.
Revolutions are spurred on by those who feel they were kept out of the correct school, or the hip social circle. But the wants that are spurred on by modern-day consumerism are definitely not the ones that count when measuring poverty and economic deprivation.
It is a pity, indeed, that in Sri Lanka, the lines are never clearly drawn. The poverty stricken should be lifted out of poverty, but society has no obligation — apart from generally improving living standards — to cater to all of the consumerist needs of those who aspire these days to what they perceive to be a ‘better life.’
That’s the malady of most societies of today. People are more resentful than they are deprived. These feelings of lack are the great drivers of social polarisations that cause people to hate immigrants, or people of different religious persuasions and ethnicities.
People resent the fact that they cannot purchase the latest product of what’s touted to be the best brand in mobile phone technology. What are these, but mere felt needs? If people were contented, they would pursue more fulfilling pastimes and try to meet more satisfying deeds.
Instead, people are intent on chasing what society tells them is best for them. What’s the extent of the social discontent in this country that’s driven by such unbridled consumerism and desire for competition?
The quicker we find out, the better it is. People can be educated on the fact that they cannot expect a nanny State where the regime pampers them and caters to their every whim. But, if people legitimately yearn for better standards of living, they have to collectively work towards that end.
What happens today is that people are ignoring those living in abject poverty — those who in fact wallow below the poverty line — while asking the State to cater to their every desire because they feel their wants trump the requirements of those in actual need. When resentment builds over the fact that they cannot afford the luxury car that their neighbour drives, that foments discontent, and a desire to blame the ‘nanny’ State.
Perhaps, of course, Capitalism is eventually to blame. It traps us in a cycle of competition, propelled by consumerism and the unbridled greed of the profiteering classes. There is no contentment under these circumstances and greed among the traders and the owning classes begets greed among the consumerist classes, both of which exist in a symbiotic relationship in our money-driven societies.
So, when anyone tells us we have to eradicate poverty, we need to size up what’s poverty and the needs that we really have to address, so that we don’t end up pampering or subsidising those who don’t deserve it.
Certainly, poverty alleviation is not about catering to the need to send a child abroad for education, for instance. It’s enough to ensure that every child has a fare shake by having a chance to go to school, but people expect more, and that’s never the State’s problem.
