>"Our equality condition shows that people would accept the elimination of hierarchies," write Zhou and his colleagues."It is only when winners become losers and losers become winners that people object."
Trouble is when being a winner means privilege over other people: eliminating rank makes them a "loser" (e.g middle class in BR no longer having maids bc they now have labor rights)
@Algot me too. But the results of this research clearly mirror something that we've been observing in the recent political crisis in Brazil. With the reduction of inequality, social rank has been changing for the last 20 years. Privileges were reduced, big and small. The middle class got frustrated to a point where it and became easily swayed by the elite and helped them topple the reformist government.
@Algot That word gets thrown around a lot these days, but in the developing world, the examples are more extreme and therefore clearer.
Brazil has had European-inspired labor laws since the 1940s, but it did not apply to housemaids—who had to endure mush harsher conditions—until a couple of years ago. The middle class started complaining they couldn't afford maids anymore, now that they had to withhold taxes for them like a regular employee worthy of Social Security.
@hisham_hm
I vastly prefer living in a way that makes me a contributor/participant rather than winner or loser.