Thursday, December 6, 2007

More on Inequality

Not only is inequality present throughout the world, but it also is present in our own country. The United States is considered one of the wealthiest nations, but nonetheless there is drastic inequality among the people living here. As discussed in lecture, inequality can be studied by individual experience or by a social matrix in anthropology. We all contribute to inequality. Whether we realize it or not, the decisions made by us, people outside of Appalachia have direct impacts the inequality the people of Appalachia experience. Even though it may be unintentional, inequality exists on a large scale, which is a direct result of decisions we make.
For instance, on a basic level, some people in Appalachia are forced to live in geographically unsafe locations because we have chosen to occupy geographically safe locations. This is not meant to imply that you should put yourself at risk and occupy geographically unsafe locations so others do not have to, but the truth of the matter is, that all of our decisions impact those around us, often in unequal ways.

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