Essay Sample on Accelerating Social and Economic Inequality

Introduction

According to Berman, American civilization is collapsing because of the following factors; social inequality, spiritual death, decreasing intellectual ability and increase loss of entitlements but it is difficult to prove this (Berman). He continues to indicate that we often do not know this and even then we usually don't know it while indeed we know what caused the fall of the Roman Empire. Researchers have over the years tried to demystify the various reasons as to why the Roman Empire fell, because there were multiple reasons behind its fall. Berman argues that the fall of the Roman Empire was caused by a series of events which rotate around these four factors that lead to transformation and civilization's deterioration.

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Social inequality is one of the most significant factors that lead to the fall of the Roman Empire. According to Meyer Reinhold, the case of Rome was that of the impoverishment of the public by an economic system that aimed at enriching a small group of people within that particular society. During that period, economic development of the Roman Empire was based on the slow but continued concentration of wealth in the form of land into the hands of a few individuals and in the end, there was a sharp decline of small independent peasants who owned land. This move led to the fall of the Roman Empire because it could only support a small group of people that thrived on the intensive exploitation of the masses that was struggling to make ends meet.

The Western Empire was one that embraced the pop culture. This culture was different from that in the Eastern sector because, in the East, there was a better distribution of wealth. Unlike in the western side, the land was mainly owned by the peasants, and therefore, there was better agricultural yield and consequently economic development. In the west, the aristocrats had a strong influence on the government administration. As such, this class of people would use its power and connections to increase their own wealth (Grant).

Declining Marginal Returns

According to Berman, there are several factors that lead to a decline in marginal returns, as a result of the development of nonviable policies of military and geographical expansion. During the time of the Roman Empire, several policies dictated that the taxes collected be utilized in the maintenance of the administration and the military which eventually drifted towards bankruptcy (Berman, 73). The denarius, for example, was initially 92 percent silver but after a few years, it declined to 43 percent. During the same era, there was an increase in the size of the government bureaucracy and that of the army was consequently followed by massive cases of inflation. By the fifth century, the Roman Empire was nothing but a name.

This was a clear case of declined marginal return as a result of organizational involvement in socioeconomic problems. The Roman Empire's plans and policies eventually introduced poverty for the peasants while destroying the middle class which was regarded as the backbone of the empire (Berman, 72). By the fifth century, the socioeconomic problems that engulfed the Empire led to the disappearance of the middle class which was also the class of individuals that held the Roman Empire. This is a clear indication of what happens when a country decides to ignore its citizens.

The Decline in Literacy, Critical Understanding and General Intellectual Awareness

According to Berman (pg. 73), the decline of spiritual and intellectual awareness was as a result of the destruction of the economic life that took place in the cities of Rome. Initially, the plan aimed at Romanizing or Hellenizing the rest of the population with the help of literacy and critical of understanding of the various ideas that promoted Greco-Roman civilization. However, a sharp decline in the Empire's economic status led to the development of a religious mentality was considered hostile in achieving a higher culture. It is also argued that the intellectual efforts that were meant to help the masses engage in the new learning ideas among the general public became a reason for failure. This is because those who were considered primitive in ancient society finally drowned out those who were considered to be socially and intellectually higher.

Civilization is determined by the hierarchy of quality (Berman, 74). However, when this factor is fattened into a general phenomenon or when this hierarchy no longer exists, there is a decline in civilization. Rostovtzeff indicated that decline in civilization occurs when the educated class in society is adsorbed by the masses which eventually leads to the simplification of all other factors such as political functions, economic functions, intellectual life, and social functions, otherwise known as barbarization. Religion also played an essential role in the decline of civilization and intellectual awareness following the argument that education was not more relevant as compared to salvation. This ignorance had a positive impact on increasing spiritual value, but it also led to the decline of social intelligence. By the sixth century, many people lacked the ability to compare and contrast different perspectives and viewpoints (Radding). Many had abandoned science and philosophy and what was previously regarded as Roman and Greek philosophy was eventually confused with various forms of superstition and magic. The sixth century was significantly characterized by a superstitious mentality because people lacked the knowledge to manipulate abstractions logically.

Spiritual Death

There are various reasons why there was spiritual death not only in the Roman Empire but in the American Culture. Initially, Berman's writes that the erosion of critical thinking and intellectual standards would eventually lead to the spiritual death of the American Empire (Berman). After a few years after writing this, the pop culture took center stage with the introduction of reality television, widespread poverty, mass shooting, and the Trumpian presidency (Posey). These were some of the things Berman had earlier predicted.

Spiritual death was a term that was also used to refer to the lack of belief in society. The American pop culture that was popular during the '90s was characterized by a lot of televised shows and adverts of people indicating how alive they felt. People were getting excited and consumed by the Pepsi Cola wave and other related issues. Eventually, the pop culture paved the way for the modern era where people were desperate for meaning in terms of God and religion. Given the nature of the religious belief system, many individuals never got the answers they were looking for and therefore, the secular system arose to fill the void (Berman). In the end, there was a collapse in the spirituality system in the American Empire.

References

Berman, Morris. The twilight of American culture. WW Norton & Company, 2001. Pg 71-90

Berman, Morris. Why America Failed: The roots of imperial decline. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.

Grant, Michael, and Micheal Grant. The fall of the Roman empire. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990.

Posey, Sean. "Declinism Rising: An Interview With Morris Berman." Www.Counterpunch.Org, 2018, https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/08/10/declinism-rising-an-interview-with-morris-berman/. Accessed 4 Dec 2018.

Radding, Charles. A world made by men: cognition and society, 400-1200. Univ of North Carolina Pr, 1985.