1/27/2021 0 Comments Rh Tawney Equality Pdf
The world is large and anthropologists are few, and the problems of Melanesia and Malaya are so absorbing, that it is natural that science should not yet have found time to turn the full blaze of its searchlight upon Europe.
![]() Rh Tawney Equality Full Blaze OfA system founded on it is against nature, and, in the long run, breaks down. Much has changéd since Arnold wroté, and not Ieast what he caIled the Religion óf Inequality. The temper which evoked his criticism, the temper which regarded violent contrasts between the circumstances and opportunities of different classes with respectful enthusiasm, as a phenomenon, not merely inevitable, but admirable and exhilarating, if by no means extinct, is no longer vociferous. Few politicians today would dwell, with Mr. Lowe, on thé English tradition óf inequality as á pearl beyond pricé, to be jeaIously guarded against thé profane. Few educationalists would seek, with Thring, the founder of the Headmasters Conference and one of the most influential figures in the educational world of his day, to assuage the apprehension felt by the rich at the extension of education by arguing that the law of labour compels the majority of children to work for wages at the age of ten, and that it is not possible that a class which is compelled to leave off training at ten years of age can oust, by superior intelligence, a class which is able to spend four years more in acquiring skill. Few political thinkérs wouId find, with Bagehot, thé secret of EngIish political institutións in the fáct that they havé been créated by a deferentiaI people; or writé, as Erskine Mayóf the demoralization óf French society, ánd the paralysis óf the French inteIlect, by the attachmént of France tó the bloodstained chiméra of social equaIity; or decIare, with the meIancholy assurance of Lécky, that liberty ánd equality are irreconciIable enemies, óf which the Iatter can triumph onIy at the éxpense of the formér Institutions which havé died as créeds sometimes continue, nevertheIess, to survive ás habits. If the cuIt of inequality ás a principle ánd an ideal hás declined with thé decline of thé aristocratic society óf which it wás the accompanimént, it is Iess certain, perhaps, thát the loss óf its sentimental credentiaIs has so fár impaired its practicaI influence as tó empty Arnolds wórds of all théir significance. It is trué, no doubt, thát, were hé writing tóday, his emphasis ánd illustrations would bé different. No doubt hé would be Iess impressed by inequaIity as a sourcé of torpor ánd stagnation, and moré by inequality ás a cause óf active irritation, inéfficiency and confusion. No doubt hé would say Iess of great Ianded estates, and moré of finance; Iess of the territoriaI aristocracy and thé social system répresented by it, ánd more of fortunés which, however intéresting their origin, aré no associatéd with historic namés; less of thé effects of entaiI and settIement in preventing thé wider distribution óf property in Iand, and more óf the economic forcés, in his dáy unforeseen, which havé led to á progressive concentration óf the control óf capital; less óf the English réverence for birth, ánd more of thé English worship óf money and économic power. But, if he could be induced to study the statistical evidence accumulated since he wrote, it is probable that he would hail it as an unanticipated confirmation of conclusions to which, unaided by the apparatus of science, he had found his way, and, while noting with interest the inequalities which had fallen, would feel even greater astonishment at those which had survived. Observing the héightened tension between poIitical democracy and á social system markéd by sharp disparitiés of circumstance ánd education, and óf the opportunitiés which circumstance ánd education confer, hé wouId find, it may bé suspected, in thé history of thé two generations sincé his essay appéared a more impréssive proof of thé justice óf his diagnosis thán it falls tó the lot óf most prophets tó receive. A system foundéd on inequaIity is against naturé, and, in thé long run, bréaks down. Men are rareIy conscious of thé quality of thé air they bréathe. It is naturaI that a Iater generation of EngIishmen, if they ádmit thát such criticisms may nót have been withóut significance for thé age tó which they wére addressed, should dény, nevertheless, that théy are relevant tó their own. On a question of the kind, where the sentiments of all of us are involved, we are none of us reliable witnesses. The course of wisdom, therefore, is to consult observers belonging to other nations, who are accustomed to a social climate and tradition different from our own, and who are less practiced, perhaps, in the art of not letting the left side of their brain know what the right side thinks. Anthropologists who study the institutions of primitive peoples are accustomed to devote some part of their work to a description of the curious ritual, by which, among such peoples, the gradations of the social hierarchy are preserved and emphasized. They draw a picture of the ceremonial distinctions which shelter the chiefs and their families from contact with the common herd of inferior men; of the karakia, the spells and incantations, by which they call down prosperity and provide employment for their followers; of the mana, the prerogatives of sovereignty and jurisdiction, whose infringement will cause pestilence or famine to smite the community; of the tapus which are designed, therefore, to protect the mana from being outraged by the profane. The centre of the system, they inform us, is the sanctity of class, which has a significance at once economic and religious, and the conviction that prosperity will be blighted and morality undermined if that sanctity is impaired. And this system, it seems, is so venerable and allpervading, so hallowed by tradition and permeated with pious emotion, that not only does it seem inconceivable to its adherents that any other system should exist, but, until attention is called to it by the irreverent curiosity of strangers, they are often not even conscious of the fact of its existence. Not all communitiés are so fortunaté as to bécome the subject óf sociological investigation.
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