Joblessness, Social Unrest
When riots broke out this summer in England, the analysis of the cause was split between those who saw the violence as acts of personal irresponsibility and those who put the blame on social inequities.
Parents, they said, have reared a generation of unbridled, anti-social nihilists who lack a sense of social responsibility.
But what else could those in power say, that there was something wrong with the social system? It would challenge the very structures and institutions that benefit them. Those whose lives are pushed ahead by the existing system seldom criticize the institutions that facilitate them but instead find fault with individuals who act uncivilly sowing restlessness.
When the heat is turned down, even those in power can give a more honest appraisal. Last week New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said that two problems looming over the country- the enormous debt and the high unemployment. Then, he added unexpectedly,
"You have a lot of kids graduating college who can't find jobs. That's what happened in Cairo. That's what happened in Madrid . . . You don't want those kinds of riots here."
Clearly there is a relationship between difficult social and economic circumstances and social unease. Sometimes this leads to increased crime, sometimes it leads to communal indifference, sometimes it leads to civil unrest and sometimes it leads to revolution.
If we don't fix the economy soon and put people back to work with decent salaries so they can support their families, the burnings we have seen Cairo and Madrid and Athens and London will become domestic worries of the first order.
Bloomberg is right that there is the specter of riots by the jobless. Let's not wait for the riots to breakout. There are plenty of good plans to put the jobless back to work and soon. But if you believe that government has no role in helping to create work for people, then the only role government will play is sending in the police and the military to put those troublemakers in their place.
Arthur Dobrin
Psychology today
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