No matter how hard it is for the XXI century human race to acknowledge the fact of inequality within society, injustice doubtlessly exists (‘Inequality and globalism’ 2013). More to the point, it penetrates every single field, affecting the relationships between people at the most basic level and altering the entire landscape of social interactions (Smeeding 2002). For several reasons, particularly, the inclusion into the globalized economy, which the Australian society is currently witnessing, the latter has recently become the breeding ground for inequality (Kakunaratne 2012).
Even though the problem, according to what such researchers as Donnison claims, has spread to Britain as well and, therefore, can be considered global, Australian authorities have not yet addressed the issue, mostly because, evolving in the Australian setting, the problem must be addressed in a specific manner. Unless the Australian government undertakes such measures as fighting embarrassingly high unemployment rates and providing better social security services to the residents of the state, the country will not be able to develop in the realm of the global economy and, therefore, will lose the chances at becoming an influential state with good educational and career opportunities for the Australian people (Azzimonti, Francisco & Quadrini 2012).
The rates of inequality, or, to be more exact, poverty rates are rising sharply all over the world, the statistic data provided by the British government being the key proof for that. As Donnison states, “people now have less compassion for fellow citizens who are down on their luck than the previous generation had” (Donnison 2013, para. 6). The inequality issue is not restricted to the downgrade in the financial status of the Australian residents; as the recent report says, disparities can also be observed in the field of education: “In 2010, people aged 20-64 years were more likely to be employed if they had attained Year 12 (school-leaving qualification) than those who had not (81 percent compared with 72 percent)” (Australian National University 2013, p. 3).
Donnison also stresses that in Europe, or, to be more exact, in the United Kingdom, the means to fight inequality and social injustice have already been provided, the reconsideration of people’s attitude towards the situation is the first important step. It has been suggested that the very term should be replaced with the less vague concept: “The Westminster Government and its supporters in the media have done their best to eliminate the phrase ‘social security’ from our vocabulary” (Donnison 2013, para. 19). As Donnison explains, the given measure has been undertaken for people to get rid of the fear of fear itself.
Once people start taking the concepts introduced with the emergence of globalization for their true value, it will become possible to point at the obvious problems and identify the weak aspects of the Australian economy so that the necessary measures could be undertaken to address the poverty issues (Sawyer & Gomez 2012). In other words, Donnison makes it obvious that for Great Britain, it is crucial to be able to call a spade a spade and face the threats that globalized economy has posed to the state’s employment and internal affairs. The given approach may also work for the Australian citizens since it helps define the problem and even points at some of the most obvious ways to handle it (Skeldon 2012).
It should be noted, though, that the Australian government will have to take a range of specific measures to address the inequality issue in the realm of the Australian economic and financial environment. To be more exact, it will be required to not only spread awareness among the members of the Australian government but also to introduce the principles of economic liberalism into the state (Brickner 2013).
Although Australia is not the only state that is currently witnessing steeply rising poverty rates due to the reconsideration of state financial and economic policies for adjusting to the principles of globalized economy (Fisher 2012), the social changes that the country is going through at present are going to have much more drastic consequences on its social climate than they will on Europe and the United States. Being geographically isolated from the aforementioned continents, Australia will most likely find it difficult to fight the alarmingly high poverty rates and encourage its SMEs and public companies for expanding into the global economy (Huygens 2009). Seeing how blocking the state’s integration into the globalized economy does not seem to be the solution, either, it will be most reasonable to use the strongest aspects of the Australian state. The fiscal policy can and must be used as the tool for compensating for the negative impacts of globalism. Once the Australian government realizes that equality can exist in the realm of a globalized society, it will be possible to bring the poverty rates down.
Reference List
Azzimonti, M, Francisco, E De & Quadrini, V 2012, Financial globalization, inequality, and the raising of public debt, Ten Independence Mall, Philadelphia, PA. Brickner, R K 2013, Migration, globalization and the state, Palgrave Macmillan, London, UK.
Donnison, D, 2013, ‘Some ideas for reversing Britain’s gross inequality,’ Scottish Review. Web.
Fisher, J A V 2012, The choice of domestic policies in a globalized economy, Web.
Huygens, I 2009, ‘From colonization to globalization: Continuities in colonial ‘commonsense’,’ in: Introduction to critical psychology (2nd ed.), Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
‘Inequality and globalism,’ 2013, Inequality and globalization, Web.
Kakunaratne, N D 2012, ‘The globalization-deglobalization policy conundrum,’ Modern Economy, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 373–383.
Sawyer, S & Gomez, W T 2012, The politics of resource extraction: indigenous peoples, multinational corporations and the state, Palgrave Macmillan, London, UK.
Skeldon, R 2012, Globalization, skilled migration and poverty alleviation: brain drains in context, Web.
Smeeding, T M 2002, Globalization, inequality and the rich countries of the G-20: evidence from the Luxembourg income study, Web.