Does the Richness of the Few Benefit Us All?

It is commonly assumed that the best way to help the poor out oftheir misery is to allow the rich to get richer, that if the richpay less taxes then all the rest of us will be better off, and thatin the final analysis the richness of the few benefits us all. Andyet these commonly held beliefs are flatly contradicted by ourdaily experience, an abundance of research findings and, indeed,logic. Such bizarre discrepancy between hard facts and popularopinions makes one pause and ask: why are these opinions sowidespread and resistant to accumulated and fast-growing evidenceto the contrary?

This short book is by one of the world’s leading socialthinkers is an attempt to answer this question. Bauman lists andscrutinizes the tacit assumptions and unreflected-upon convictionsupon which such opinions are grounded, finding them one by one tobe false, deceitful and misleading. Their persistence could behardly sustainable were it not for the role they play in defending- indeed, promoting and reinforcing - the current, unprecedented,indefensible and still accelerating growth in social inequality andthe rapidly widening gap between the elite of the rich and the restof society.