Does Society Need a Lower Class?

[Master Zen]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


Social prestige is an attribute of a society. For example, in anicent China, mandarians were of the highest status and merchants were of the lowest. Some other societies regarded warriors as the highest.

Even in a Western society, how the various professions rank with each other is a matter of great controvery.

Neo-classical economic theory stipulates that the pay received by the n-th worker is equivalent to the marginal benefit that he brings to the firm.

There are studies that show that high-pay professions like professional athletes are actually underpaid when taking into account the benefits received by the franchise. Sounds crazy doesn't it?

[Master Zen]

Originally posted by UberKruX


first the mexicans, now the space monkies?

[kidding, i assure you. i have no problem with people comming to america to work. it's when they come to blow sh*t up that i flip out]

Read my avatar message!!

[Inverse Icarus]

[DuncanK]

Originally posted by Dissident
I misread the topic.

In any case some people just lack the necessary skills and brainpower to do anything meaningful with their lives. Unless we have some magical way of supporting these people, then they will have to work for a living. If we can't find anything for them to do- then who will support them?

I agree. It's not democratic but it seems to be the only way that works. Your aptitude should be determined ealry in live and you should be encouraged to go into a profession where you can do the most good. Look at the way things are now. We are so PC that we tell our kids that they can be anything they want. Most of us can't. Including me. That's why I got a degree in Economics and not Physics.

[DuncanK]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


Social prestige is an attribute of a society. For example, in anicent China, mandarians were of the highest status and merchants were of the lowest. Some other societies regarded warriors as the highest.

Even in a Western society, how the various professions rank with each other is a matter of great controvery.

In Western society the business man who has the most power and does the least work holds the highest prestige.

[Imran Siddiqui]

In Western society the business man who has the most power and does the least work holds the highest prestige.

Or so the left would have you believe

It ain't like CEOs work a Hell of lot and put in more hours than the workers in the factory or anything

[DuncanK]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

In Western society the business man who has the most power and does the least work holds the highest prestige.

Or so the left would have you believe

It ain't like CEOs work a Hell of lot and put in more hours than the workers in the factory or anything

Poppycock, CEOs don't do anything but order people around. Most of the time they do that on the golf course with a cell phone in their hand.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yep... go on with your lefty fantasies, bolstered by the great truth of Hollywood.

[DuncanK]

Imran,

People with money look down on people who work. If a CEO worked he would lose the respect of his investors.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Another untrue generalization? Geez, Duncan, you are on a roll!!

The only people that look down on people who work are those born with money.

You think investors look down on Bill Gates because he works harder than anyone working for him? BULL****!

[DuncanK]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Another untrue generalization? Geez, Duncan, you are on a roll!!

The only people that look down on people who work are those born with money.

You think investors look down on Bill Gates because he works harder than anyone working for him? BULL****!

Gates doesn't do **** and work is not respected in this country, power is. Gates has lots of power.

[DuncanK]

People who work are powerless, otherwise why would they do it. Bill Gates gets other people to work for him, because he has the power to do that. That's why he is respected.

[Ben Kenobi]

Your aptitude should be determined ealry in live and you should be encouraged to go into a profession where you can do the most good.

Doesn't work all that well. Where would you set the cutoff? Junior High?

People often change aptitudes, some quite late in life. Are we to discourage those who wish to improve their condition simply because they did not start there.

BTW DuncanK, I sympathise with your switch from Physics to Economics. I found I lacked the mathematics skill to keep up with my physics peers.

While I've found out some of my limitations, I'm glad that I received an opportunity to try.

How would one determine aptitude, DuncanK?

[DuncanK]

Originally posted by obiwan18


Doesn't work all that well. Where would you set the cutoff? Junior High?

People often change aptitudes, some quite late in life. Are we to discourage those who wish to improve their condition simply because they did not start there.

BTW DuncanK, I sympathise with your switch from Physics to Economics. I found I lacked the mathematics skill to keep up with my physics peers.

While I've found out some of my limitations, I'm glad that I received an opportunity to try.

How would one determine aptitude, DuncanK?

Yes, junior high. By junior high it can be determined if a student has aptitude in certain areas like scientic reasoning or math. This is much more efficient for the individual and society. Some people think it's nice to have the opportunity to fail, but I think it's better to be pointed in the right direction. This gives you confidence, because you have the opinion of society behind you.

If we did that, we would also have to be more dedicated to making sure that everyone had a job though, because those who make the decisions have to take the responsibility.

[Master Zen]

Don't want to sound too pro-CEO, but at least some of them started at least with a creative spark which led them to their position of power.

We might hate Bill Gates, but he started slogging it just like any other programmer of his day. Whether it be ability or luck that made Microsoft the way it is now I don't know, but I would not go so far as to blast on the CEOs of ALL firms (granted, I hate familiy-owned business becuase ownership is not based on aptitude but on blood).

If I ever start a major company through hard work I would love to spend my days playing golf and giving orders. After all, if what I did was so meaningless, why didn't someone do it before???