While conversing with a friend over the weekend, a certain topic concerning the segmentation of society came up. He said “The society needs to be segmented into The Poor, The Middle Class and The Rich.”
I’m still confused on why this segmentation is still there and why should it be there. To some extent segmentation is needed in the world, but what kind of segmentation is needed is the question that arises in my mind.
What do you think, what are your views on the present day segmentation of the society?
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
I totally disagree with this logic.
‘Segmentation’ done consciously (not as suggested by Jyoti) can only be executed by governments.
Govts that do this are either Socialists or Communists.
If you look at the massive collapse of the Socialist philosophy (Marx said – from each of his ability to each for his need), the concept of ‘curating’ societies is a failure.
Why?
Coz MANKIND always looks upwards.
No one wants to be cast in any segment and then be stuck to it.
Marx felt that if the poor and middle class are not catered to, there will be an uprising and there will be a massive revolt leading to bloodshed and chaos.
That never happened.
All the major coups of the world have happened thanks to bad governance (mistreating or creating communal hatred) or raping the land of the country (Sudan, Balkans, French Revolution), never by people striving to do better and giving up.
Examples like Japan, Korea are shining examples of how a Country’s destiny is shaped by ALL ITS CITIZENS who move up in life – not in segments.
Germany after the second WW did exactly that – they rose vertically and repaired the vagaries of WAR.
Russia (complete believer in segmenting) had disintegrated and had the visionary of Gorbachev who lit fire to the dead corpse and reset the country.
China – still remains completely communist and hence a big bubble. (I have lived in and out of China for 5 years and built and sold a company there – ask me what the REAL CHINA is).
Look at Cuba, North Korea – folks who pretend to CURATE their countrymen – see what has happened!
2 interesting case studies:
30 years ago, at the height of the Cold War, a very prominent Economist set out to study the largest Steel Factories of the world and understand their approach to costings.
In his visit to a USA factory, the factory manager rattled off each and every cost input – including the cost per tonne of steel that the was added thanks to the lunch that was served everyday to the workers. The factory manager knew his costs to the last cent.
Impressed, the Economist then travelled to Russia.
There, the factory manager DID NOT UNDERSTAND the notion of COST. He showed the Economist the rail tracks that bought the raw material in, and the way they made steel and shipped it out. He did not understand what COST meant. The Russian govt supplied everything and took away everything. All he did was manage the process and pay the salaries (he did not understand why the salaries were fixed at what range) on time.
On a cost comparison done by the Economist, the Russian factory was producing Steel at 11X the cost of the USA factory. It was DOOMED.
Why? Coz there was NO OWNERSHIP of the business – the Russian system divided people into managers and workers – without any fear of them losing their jobs!
We know what happened to Russia….
In another very interesting case, there was a study why TIME SHARE HOLIDAY HOMES have failed to succeed in the world (I think Club Mahindra is also a duck):
It showed that intuitively people KNOW that their income and standard of living over years will IMPROVE each year of their lives – hence they DONT WANT TO COMMIT to a fixed standard of vacations (the quality of holiday homes typically remains fixed over years).
No one wants to be guaranteed a shitty 3 star hotel room for the rest of their lives (remain middle class) , when I can easily stay in a 5 star room (be rich) after a few years…
Classification of people is DEAD.
The flip is entrepreneurship – thats what liberates CLASSES. Who was Marc Zuckerberg before facebook? Which classification did he follow? Dhirubhai, Google, Bill Gates, etc? Who was Steve Jobs father?
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Balaji Mohanan
dude..amazing…this reply is good enough to be a seperate blog post….
btw…the society is segmented in two…
the group that is satisfied and therefore never gets better in life…for satisfaction is death
the other group is the one that is never satisfied with whatever it has and therefore has a rapid vertical growth….
Alok ‘Rodinhood’ Kejriwal said:
Santosh Panda
Great topic to share thought …..Segmentation is designed by certain society/certain people with a deliberate attempt to put themselves ahead of others (they fail in that attempt in long run).
I am strongly against segmentation, here are my takes
1. Segmentation made India powerless hence got ruled by British
2. Segmentation made India to have such a nasty caste system and lost so many calibre over centuries
3. Segmentation produces stereotypes and not revolutionaries
4. Segmentation is survival game played by those who fear of loss
Alok ‘Rodinhood’ Kejriwal said:
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
Awesome, practical example of why Karl Marx (the guy who invented socialism) SUCKS – https://www.facebook.com/rodinhood/posts/538439936187929