Major new study exposes hidden causes of inequality

Hidden and unacknowledged beliefs are responsible for the UK´s social inequality, according to a leading geographer at the University of Sheffield, whose research is set to be revealed in a new book published this week (Wednesday 21 April 2010). In his book entitled Injustice: Why social inequality persists, Professor Danny Dorling claims that in rich countries, where there are now plenty of resources to go around, inequality is caused by deep-rooted, unacknowledged beliefs. Professor Dorling argues that, as the five social evils identified by Beveridge at the dawn of the British welfare state (ignorance, want, idleness, squalor and disease) are gradually being eradicated, social injustices are now being recreated, renewed and supported by five new sets of unjust beliefs: - Elitism is efficient: educational apartheid in the UK has risen as the majority of additional qualifications in recent decades have been awarded to a minority of young adults. Exclusion is necessary: social segregation has increased as real financial rewards and benefits to those worse off have fallen — just as the riches of the wealthy have grown. Prejudice is natural: a wider racism has developed, a new social Darwinism, which sees some people as inherently less deserving and able than those who `need´ great rewards to work. Greed is good: a mantra is becoming more widely accepted that economic growth is necessary at almost any cost including growing global inequalities and mounting debt.