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Single Idea 19788

[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / B. Equalities / 4. Economic equality ]

Full Idea

If one sees a handful of powerful and rich men at the height of greatness and fortune while the mob grovels in obscurity and misery, it is because the former prize the things they enjoy only to the extent that the others are deprived of them.

Gist of Idea

The pleasure of wealth and power is largely seeing others deprived of them

Source

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Discourse on the Origin of Inequality [1754], Part II)

Book Ref

Rousseau,Jean-Jacques: 'The Basic Political Writings', ed/tr. Cress,Donald A. [Hackett 1987], p.78

A Reaction

This seems to be an accurate picture of ancien régime France, and it still applies to modern plutocrats. The pleasure of a nice house is not that it is very good, but that it is better than other houses. Inequality gives a lot of pleasure!

The 25 ideas with the same theme [equality of wealth ansd earning ability]:

124 Does nature imply that it is right for better people to have greater benefits? [Plato]
2814 Phaleas proposed equality of property, provided there is equality of education [Aristotle]
22540 Wealth could be quickly leveled by only the rich giving marriage dowries [Aristotle]
19880 All value depends on the labour involved [Locke]
19982 Some equality can be achieved by social categories, combined with taxes and poor relief [Montesquieu]
19983 Democracies may sometimes need to restrict equality [Montesquieu]
3920 If you equalise possessions, people's talents will make them unequal again [Hume]
19788 The pleasure of wealth and power is largely seeing others deprived of them [Rousseau]
7248 No citizen should be rich enough to buy another, and none so poor as forced to sell himself [Rousseau]
21066 Citizens can rise to any rank that talent, effort and luck can achieve [Kant]
22798 Money is the best way to achieve just equality [Hegel]
23159 Scarce goods may be denied entirely, to avoid their unequal distribution [Russell]
23864 Inequality could easily be mitigated, if it were not for the struggle for power [Weil]
3235 It is a mark of extreme exploitation that the sufferers do not realise their plight [Williams,B]
20279 Equality of opportunity unfairly rewards those lucky enough to have great ability [Singer]
20549 Equality is complex, with different spheres of equality where different principles apply [Walzer, by Swift]
23105 It is not deplorable that billionaires have more than millionaires [Kekes]
23120 The problem is basic insufficiency of resources, not their inequality [Kekes]
20148 Equal distribution is no good in a shortage, because there might be no one satisfied [Kekes]
21040 Libertarians just want formal equality in a free market; the meritocratic view wants fair equality [Sandel]
20536 Inequalities are needed, as incentives to do the most important jobs [Swift]
20548 A person can desire redistibution of wealth, without it being for reasons of equality [Swift]
20591 If there is no suffering, wealth inequalities don't matter much [Tuckness/Wolf]
22843 Inequalities are worse if they seem to be your fault, rather than social facts [Charvet]
22845 Money allows unlimited inequalities, and we obviously all agree to money [Charvet]