Selfishness, Greed and Capitalism

Inequality is rising in BritainWe can only speculate about the extent to which growinginequality between the highest earners – a class thatincludes many public intellectuals, politicians, broadcastersand academics – has moulded public opinion aboutinequality, but it is notable that the resentment of the richtowards the super-rich does not seem to be widely sharedby the general population. In 2007, the Institute for Socialand Economic Research sought an answer to the questionof why ‘most people appear to accept widespread socialand economic inequalities’ and found that Britons werenot greatly troubled by other people earning large incomes(Pahl et al. 2007):We find that, in many ways, social comparisons are stillnarrow and knowledge of the true extent of inequality isstill limited. What comparisons people do make appearto be based on lifestyle and consumption. Hence, they areneither resentful of the super-rich, nor of others closer tothemselves who have done better in life. However, theyare very aware of their advantages compared with lessfortunate members of society. 4J. K. Galbraith wrote in 1958 that ‘Envy almost certainlyoperates efficiently only in regards near neighbours. It’s4 A study by the Work Foundation found that many people whostated concerns about inequality were actually expressing concernsabout poverty; an understandable confusion since the twoare often conflated by journalists, politicians and social reformers(Lee et al. 2013: 4).133