The Imbalance between Rich and Poor Is the Oldest and Most Fatal Ailment of All Republics

Vice President Inaugurates Diamond Jubilee Conference of Indian Sociological Society

The Vice President, Shri Mohd. Hamid Ansari delivering

the inaugural address at the “Diamond Jubilee Conference

of Indian Sociological Society”, in New Delhi on December 11, 2011. Photo © PIB

The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that the Greek historian Plutarch had observed that “an imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics”. Delivering inaugural address at the “Diamond Jubilee Conference of Indian Sociological Society” here today, he has said that all over the world one hears today the cry of the common man protesting against the exclusion of the majority from accessing the benefits of economic growth and prosperity engendered by globalization of financial markets, economies, investment flows and processes. Real incomes of the top percentile across developed and emerging countries have grown disproportionately higher, exacerbating income inequalities. It is now clear that the system that has worked so well for the top percentile has delivered far lesser returns to others.

 

Shri Ansari has opined that this is not merely an economic phenomenon, related to income distribution and disparity of wealth. Social inequality is a reality, with differences in status, opportunity and power, and the absence of an overarching framework of social justice. It has its own impact on levels of human development. It is known that social disparities are not always congruent with economic inequality and that difference in power and status can chart through non-economic realms. Social and occupational stratification work as much to constrain opportunities and life chances of individuals as economic factors. Inequality is a problem in the long run, especially when it kills aspiration for personal and societal betterment.

Addressing the conference, the Vice President said that “It is hazardous to venture into a realm that everybody claims to know but few actually do! The pitfalls for the uninitiated are evident.  

He further said that, as a discipline and despite its impeccable European pedigree, Sociology as an independent discipline evolved in the face of considerable skepticism. Early in the last century, Henry Ford of Yale University cautioned that “those who yield to its plausible pretensions go astray”. Two decades later Read Bain of Miami University denounced sociology for its inaccuracy, indefiniteness, and terminological confusion and called sociologists as “scientific charlatans.” Similar views were expressed elsewhere too. That phase is now over. Sociology is today seen as a vital tool in understanding societies and the ongoing social changes.

  

The world has been transformed in the past two decades. The changes span global and national, political, economic and social order resulting in decreased salience of national sovereignty, of traditional social institutions and established patterns of political and economic activity, he said. ---PIB