Working with Greed: The Challenge of Inequalities

As societies develop, progress is made in many spheres and, at least in developed nations, abject poverty is largely a thing of the past. Nevertheless, concern exists with regard to inequalities between different groups, whether social, racial or geographic (such as in a rural—urban or North-South sense). Inequalities of this nature contribute to relative poverty in the developed world and cases of more severe poverty (often referred to as ‘absolute poverty’) in numerous developing countries. This is obviously the case in many parts of Africa, but it is also evident in the economic giants of Asia, China and India. India is known to have a large poor population, particularly in rural and remote areas, where some 78 per cent of people still do not have access to improved sanitation.1 In China, the Communist Party has been repeatedly expressed concern about increasing inequality and, on admitting that rapid industrial growth has left millions in the countryside relatively worse off, has made calls to slow growth in order to help the rural poor. Incidentally, in the last thirty years inequality has also been steadily increasing in the UK and the US.2