How can humanity achieve the utopia of equality and inclusion?

The dream of a utopian society which reflects equality and inclusion has led to struggle between different ideologies and classes for far too long. While the struggle continues, the jury is still out if we are moving in the right direction to smash the walls of inequality and exclusion.

Even though humanity evolved from animals, it developed a very unique quality among itself, the quality to distinguish individuals based on several denominations to create a differentiated society. One which categorizes people based on their social standing, skin colour, the work they did or the wealth they inherited. This society was divided broadly into two categories. The socially influential, wealthy, white people were called Elites and the others were further divided into slaves, servants, carpenters, plumbers etc, based on their skills and their place of origin. For convenience sake we will club this second category into commoners.

The Elites, having access to all the wealth and influence used to employ the services of commoners in return of food, or shelter and later in exchange of money. This system carried all the way through in the form of capitalism and is even prevalent to this day. While the commoners did not enjoy many rights or privileges, they were happy to toil for the wealth creation of the Elites as it could feed them and their loved ones. So, then what changed and why those commoners set out on a path to claim equality and inclusion in a society which has never been equal and inclusive.

It started with the abolition of slavery in America. the African-American community was the first to be given proper citizenship and laws were enacted to give them equal rights and privileges. This in a sense opened up the debate of equality and inclusion for all throughout the world and the movement continues. It is well known that the world has become a different place and monarchies have been replaced by democracies. In a democracy the idea of equal rights and inclusion are inbuilt and so in theory at least everybody has equal right to vote, raise their children, earn their living etc. But have we really achieved equality? I don't think so.

For starters something which has been prevalent from centuries cannot suddenly disappear. While humanity and especially commoners try really hard to erase this line dividing the society but it is taking its own sweet time. Though today's inequality is not the same as what prevailed earlier, it has changed and morphed into a new form. Today's inequality is different as in different parts of the world. While in developed countries, inequality is based mostly on the colour of their skin and the geography they migrated from. The episode of the George Floyd being killed of choking by a white police man is a classic example of this kind of equality, also popularly known as racism. In other parts of the world which are mostly developing, inequality can be seen on other parameters like religious practices, ethnicity, or in some cases like India in the form of caste. But the one single parameter that remains common irrespective of the country or geography is the wealth inequality. 

Since the abolition of slavery these fault lines have been slowly and steadily disappearing especially in the developed world because of the kind of backlash it gets politically, due to independent institutions upholding justice. But this cannot be said about developing countries, where inequality and isolation is still prevalent without many checks and balances. Even if checks and balances have been instituted, there remains a great deal of problem taking it to a logical conclusion. In most cases this struggle breaks individuals seeking justice at the back of being discriminated going for a long struggle to find justice. The inequality of wealth however has been consistently increasing since eternity. This is one such form of inequality that has the ability to change the status quo. If a black person in a developed country is wealthy, he would not be subjected to the same kind of racist attacks a common black person might face. Same is in developing countries, if a lower caste or a person coming from religious minority group is wealthy, he does not go through the same kind of discrimination as a commoner. In other words, wealth inequality has overshadowed all other kinds of inequality and discrimination in today's age.

The big question that arises, how do we erase these fault line? How do we remove or at least try to reduce this inequality? The answer lies in a theory called Pareto's law. Pareto's law is also known as the 80-20 formula. It says 80% of something carries only 20% importance and 20% of something carries 80% importance. Basing on this formula we come to a conclusion that 80% all other forms of inequality will erase itself with time and carries only 20% importance. The inequality that we need to focus on is the wealth inequality, also known as income inequality which is responsible for maximum number of problems.

Wealth or income inequality, is basically the difference in income and wealth between different individuals. This could be due to inheritance, good education, skills, entrepreneurship etc. We need to create a scenario where we encourage education, skill based and entrepreneurial wealth creation. These create a positive competition in the system. What we need to eradicate is the wealth created by inheritance, crony capitalism, fraud etc. An environment of competition and entrepreneurship can only be achieved by creating a level playing field in which there is no unfair advantage given to anybody. Crony capitalism is the biggest problem facing the world today, where too few people control too much wealth by means such as monopolist practices, cronyism, black money etc. While the wealthy should be scanned of these unfair practices, the people at the bottom of the pyramid needs to be exposed to a universal basic income (UBS). This universal basic income will make sure they receive a dignified and starvation free life. This will not only free them of the daily struggle of arranging to feed themselves, but will push them on the next level of competition for wealth creation by setting their minds free of such small issues.

Conclusion:

Humanity has experienced inequality since eternity. Today though this inequality isn't as brutal as it used to be. But the inequality of wealth and income has overtaken many other forms of inequalities. Thus, it becomes really important for us to tackle the menace of income inequity head on. If we can reduce income inequality, we will be able to shave off a big chunk of social inequality while other forms of inequalities erase itself with time. The idea of acquiring wealth through crony capitalism, monopolistic practices or through black money must be strictly dealt with whereas competitive capitalism should be encouraged. The bottom of the pyramid must be able to receive the benefits of a universal basic income (UBI) which will move them away from the daily struggle of finding food and dignified life and let their minds be used to learn new skills and contribute to the economy many times over. This way we will slowly but surely be able to bring both the Elites and the commoner on closer platforms and reduce the wealth gap.