Does a rising tide lift all boats?
Week 2
Reminder: Meetings are on Tuesdays 7:30-9pm
After a successful first meeting about queer theory, this week we are broadening our scope substantially. Our focus is global poverty policy and if capitalism can really eradicate it. All three pieces are required this week and takes the form of an argument between British economic anthropologist Jason Hickel and American psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker.
I’ve created PDFs of all pieces for easier reading :) https://carlinmack.com/blog/cardinal/week-2/pdfs
Bill Gates says poverty is decreasing. He couldn’t be more wrong
Jason Hickel, 2019, 3 pages
Is the world really getting poorer? A response by Steve Pinker
Jerry Coyne, 2019, 5 pages
A Letter To Steven Pinker (And Bill Gates, For That Matter) About
Global Poverty
Jason Hickel, 2019, 9 pages
Before reading this piece, pause and consider what arguments Hickel might make
https://www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2019/2/3/pinker-and-global-poverty
Optional Video - What is neoliberalism?
Barnard Center for Research on Women, 2012, 10 minutes
http://sfonline.barnard.edu/gender-justice-and-neoliberal-transformations/what-is-neoliberalism/
Optional Essay — How to Pretend Away Global Poverty: Neoliberalism and the Erasure of Historical Violence
Anonymous, 2020, 6 pages
Some of the members of our group are involved in the Rattlecap which is a radical, left-leaning online publication, and coincidentally they’ve just published an article on the exact same topic as our readings!
Thinking Points
- I feel we are likely to agree with Hickel. However, did any of Pinker’s arguments expecially grab you?
- Can capitalism be regulated effectively until everyone’s needs are met?
- Last we spoke about how liberalism focuses on individual problems rather than structural, can we draw parallels to how neoliberalism sees famines and natural disasters?
