We live in the healthiest and wealthiest age in history, yet those qualities are not shared equally among people around the globe. Today we'll examine how acceleration increased inequality.
Driving Question: How has acceleration increased inequality?
- The Modern Revolution created the world we live in today. New global networks of exchange accelerated collective learning and innovation. The world is healthier and wealthier than it's ever been. However, access to those innovations and changes is not evenly distributed around the globe today. Not everyone was connected to those networks, or if they were, it led to exploitation, not empowerment. As a result, not everyone benefited equally from the tremendous growth in collective learning.
Word of the Day: Inequality
- Definition: A difference in size, degree, or circumstances.
- Inequality, as we’ll study it today, refers to the economic and social gaps experienced by those who have a lack of access to the kinds of tools that would better their lives. Different regions of the world enjoy more connections and a greater diversity of connections than others. Consequently, there are differences in power and wealth among the world's people.
Lesson
- Go to Khan Academy and read the article, “Collective Learning: Part 4.”
- In this article, David Christian unpacks the consequences of the rapid acceleration of collective learning. Keep track of the ways that acceleration has led to increased inequality in the world. Why are there vast differences in the connectedness, power, and wealth among individuals in the modern world?
Historian’s Journal Prompt
- What can be done to reduce inequality?
- No matter the scale we use to examine inequality ⎼ from local to global ⎼ it still exists and persists. Where do you see inequality in your own community? How can you identify that inequality and work to dismantle it? The coronavirus pandemic has illuminated a number of glaring equity issues, from internet access to distribution of food and health services. What organizations can you tap into in your own community to lessen the gap?
