America the Fair
Subtitle: Using Brain Science to Create a More Just Nation
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2019
Language: eng
Number of pages: 208
ISBN-13: 9781501735479
Subjects: Fairness; Polarization (social science); Social conflict
Description: "This book is about the increasing polarity of American politics written by a cognitive scientist whose work investigates the situations that cause people to feel as if they have been treated unfairly. Why have conservatives and liberals been unable to find any common ground on problems relating to economic well-being and inequality? Liberals look with envy at other nations whose citizens enjoy as rights what many Americans view as privileges: health care, maternity leave, a robust unemployment insurance plan, and postsecondary education. It's been assumed that America is exceptional in this regard because it has a culture of selfishness while other nations have cultures of selflessness, in which middle-class citizens are happy to subsidize those earning less. This book suggests instead that these nations thrive because the middle class selfishly enjoys the same benefits as everyone else. One is less likely to worry about being on the short end of redistribution when one has a low-risk standard of living. The American Left has lost sight of the possibility that the middle class can be sold on the personal benefits of an increased role for government in protecting its citizens"--