Ruut VeenhovenErasmus University Rotterdam and Utrecht University, The
Netherlands,E-mail: veenhoven@fsw.eur.nl
Published in German in: Wolfgang Glatzer, Roland Habich, Karl Ulrich Maier
(Hrgs), Socialer Wandel und Gesellschaftliche Dauerbeobachtung. Festschrift
für Wolfgang Zapf, Leske + Bundrich, 2002 Opladen, Deutschland, ISBN 3-8100-3368-5, pp.273-294
ABSTRACT
It is said that social inequality is returning in
modern nations. This trend is seen to manifest in widening disparities in
income in the late 20th century and attributed to neo-liberalism,
globalization and immigration. This development is seen as a turn in the
long-term trend towards a more civilized society.
This
paper challenges that idea. It argues that the traditional indicators of
inequality in nations fall short in several ways and cannot be meaningfully
compared across time and nations. Instead it proposes to measure inequality in
another way, not by differences in presumed chances for a good life, but by the
dispersion of final outcomes of life.
Inequality in nations
is measured by the difference between citizens in satisfaction with their life
as a whole. Standard deviations of life-satisfaction in EU nations are compared
over the years 1973-1996.
It appears that the dispersion became smaller instead
of larger. Comparison across nations shows also lower dispersion in the most
modern nations.
So the trend towards greater equality seems
to persist. If there is any truth in the theory that access to scare resources
became more unequal, that tendency must have been compensated in some way,
possibly by greater equality in personal capabilities.