Jill Lepore on inequality in the US (the article
also reviews recently published books such as: “Our
Kids: The American Dream in Crisis” by Robert Putnam, and “Inequality:
What Can Be Done?” by Anthony Atkinson):
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/16/richer-and-poorer
Professor Lepore notes:
“Numbers men are
remote and cold of heart, Dickens thought. But, of course, the appeal of
numbers lies in their remoteness and coldness. Numbers depersonalize; that
remains one of their chief claims to authority, and to a different explanatory
force than can be found in, say, a poem. “Quantification is a technology of
distance,” as the historian of science Theodore Porter has pointed out.
“Reliance on numbers and quantitative manipulation minimizes the need for
intimate knowledge and personal trust.” It’s difficult to understand something
like income inequality across large populations and to communicate your
understanding of it across vast distances without counting. But
quantification’s lack of intimacy is also its weakness; it represents not only
a gain but also a loss of knowledge.”Update:
Are Larger Firms to Blame for Rising Inequality?