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INEQUALITY IN EUROPE IN THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY

25

An overview of the causes of trends

towards social polarisation

The polarisation recorded by statistics that is be-

ing seen across broad swathes of Europe essen-

tially derives from two basic tendencies: the rich

are becoming richer and the incomes of the

poorer members of society are becoming dis-

connected from economic growth. It is not our

intention here to delve further into the dynam-

ics of accumulation at the top of the income

scale and will instead leave that aside by making

the obligatory reference to Thomas Piketty and

the ensuing debate. Rather we are more con-

cerned with what is happening at the lower end

of the income scale. Here some propositions:

the percentage of people whose income lies far

below the national standard (or the median in-

come, in more precise terms) can primarily be

ascribed to the shortage of “decently” paid

jobs. A great many of the people who are de-

pendent on the income they derive from work

either cannot find a job at all or only one that is

poorly paid. At the time of the aforementioned

reference, forty years ago, the number of peo-

ple in both categories, the unemployed and

those on low wages, was considerably lower in

the richer countries of Europe.

An additional factor is the decline in family

solidarity in many countries. This means that

people have access to a lesser extent to income

earned by others, spouses in particular, but also

parents or grown up children. They live alone in

their homes, which they alone are left to pay

for. More and more mothers, but fathers too,

are raising children without the support of a

partner. This reduces their earning opportunities

on the labour market and at the same time in-

creases their irrefutable costs.

Finally, mention must be made of qualifica-

tion for the labour market. This has always

essentially hinged on education. Even though

formal access to the education system is no

more exclusive than it was in the past, at least in

the West, because of the increase in migration,

the issue of a language and culture barrier has

become more important. Migrants now make

up a significant share of the population across

the Union and many of them are at a clear dis-

advantage when it comes to acquiring qualifica-

tions that will count on the labour market. This

is reinforced and consolidated to a certain ex-

tent by the formation of corresponding sub-

cultures in certain residential districts. In the

former socialist countries where immigration

plays a less prominent role, trends towards a

certain polarisation of what was once an egali-

tarian education system took hold –good pri-

vate schools for high-income groups and not so

good public schools for the rest.

Part of this social polarisation syndrome also

has to do with the welfare state. From country

to country to differing degrees and in different

ways, the welfare state has clearly had a cush-

ioning effect on polarisation. But its architecture

and its resources were never meant to compen-

sate for a lack of earned income on a massive

scale. The part of the welfare state that is in-

tended to uphold earlier living standards once a

person’s working life had reached an end (the

pension system), is reinforcing social polarisa-

tion because low earnings inevitably lead to low

pensions. The part intended to prevent income

from dipping below a certain poverty threshold

(known as “welfare” in America) is increasingly

in demand because earnings no longer offer

protection from poverty. In this respect, increas-

ing social polarisation has gone hand in hand

with increased welfare state spending. The wel-

fare state, however, has been coming under in-

creased financial pressure not only because

more people are having to resort to using it but