portfolio by Noha Sabry

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Noha Ghobrial

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Cover letter: Dear Dr, First of all, I would love to thank you for this great semester; this is may be the most enjoyable class I have ever been too. I think that my writing went to a better stage than it was before. I have learned the meaning of research and critiquing. I have learned to look beyond the words and understand the circumstances surrounded the appearance of the written text. The course reflected the real meaning of ideas like active meanings and liberal arts education. I was doing what I like and learning how to do it in a really interesting way. I believe that I have reached the goals I wanted form this course. I learned how to search and find different points of views. I learned to accept them as every opinion even if it was small, it does matter. I think my language is better now, but I still have many small mistakes that affects my writing. I also learned to give good reflection from wide point of view. I can sincerely say that I gained great deal of general knowledge- not only Rhetoric- from being in the class and interacting with a helpful doctor like you. Thank you for your effort Noha Ghobrial

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Noha Ghobrial 900094043 Rhet 201 Micheal Gibson Anotated bibliography Beker, Gray. The Beker-Posner Blog: Bad and Good Inequality. 30 01 2011. September 2011 To introduce the writer, he is Gary Stanley Becker (born December 2, 1930) who is an American economist. He is a professor of economics, sociology at the University of Chicago and a professor at the Booth School of Business. He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1992, and received the United States' Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007. He is currently a Rose-Marie and Jack R. Anderson senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. By using examples from China, US and other countries, the writer shows that inequality is sometimes better for the general economy of the country and having equality might slow the development of the countries income. Kendall, Diana. Social problems in a diverse society. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2010.

The book is addressing many social problems that appear in different societies. The book is showing different types of inequality, the reasons and results behind it. It is trying to answer the question is the social inequality and other problems can be solved or not and should we keep it as it is or work for more equal society.

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Kiari, Paul. In a God Who Could Danceâ&#x20AC;Ś Weekly-ish Posts: A Humanist blog on Society, Econ and Religion : Inequality is Both Good & Bad: New Study on US Perceptions of and Ideals for Income Equality. September 2011

The blog is talking about two main ideas. First: people believe that their ideal society is not perfectly equal. And the Second, people also chose, all things considered, a world of equality over a world of inequality. By using some graphs and sources from other studies the injustice and the inequality in the American society and how can we solve it or benefit from it as there is a beneficial aspect of the inequality.

Marger, Martin N. Social Inequailty: Patterns and processes. New York : The McGrow-Hill Companies , 2011. The book is talking about historically known theories that were formed by equally known people like Karl Marx and Max Weber. Those theories are what we call in Sociology an Ideal theory, but in reality it is not. There are a lot of factors that interferes with those theories that might ruin it is perfect nature. There are also other parts of the book that talks about the forms of the society concerning the political in equality. It explains patterns that existed in the American society concerning the issue of who are the actual controller and the decision maker in the society.

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Herbert J. Rubin and IreneS. Rubin. Community Organizing and Developmnt. United States : Pearson: Alyn and Bacon , 2008.

The book is discussing approaches to solve the real problems of the society. It also reveals a lot of secrets that is thought to be never excited concerning inequality and other problems. It is talking about the ways the society functions under inequality and where does it come from. It is providing good solutions for the issues resulted from inequality. The book also provides approaches to work on other issues in the society. Bahnisch, Mark. ‘Good’ and ‘bad’ inequality: A social democratic perspective. July 2011. 2011

Mark Bahnisch is a sociologist and is the founder of this blog. He has an undergraduate degree in history and politics from UQ, and postgraduate qualifications in sociology, industrial relations and political economy from Griffith and QUT. He has recently been awarded his PhD through the Humanities Program at QUT. The blog is talking about inequality from different economic points of views and how every school perceives it.

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Noha Ghobrial RHET 201-12 Instr. Michael Gibson Critical analysis The question is: How important is the inequality for the society?

Critical analysis: Through ages there were a lot of approaches to solve the problem of the economic and social inequality and differences between classes. A lot of thinkers and scientists are trying to reach the perfect economic theory that will make everyone in the society satisfied with his place in whatever social class he is in. There is actually what is called “Ideal Theories” those ideas looks perfect on paper put it shows some defects in the theory. Those theories were trying to provide versions of classless society or other ones that classes can work with harmony and away from inequality. But the inequality is not that bad as it is sometimes essential for the growth of any society. First, what are the causes of class inequality? Karl Marx said answering this question “inequality arises as a result of control of productive resources, those things that are necessary to supply the society’s economic needs” (Marger, 2011). The government is the one that is control for stating the policies and lows for the production and trading .So the economic policies and planes that the government is using, is one of the reasons behind the existence of inequality,

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systems like the free market. The free market is a system that encourages the individual efforts to have a good placement in the market. Having a free market that is open for individual to be in, is the best way to have competition and always have upgraded products or services. Because If the government was the only one in the market then there will be no enhancing in any aspect. Privatization is also a way that the government uses to encourage compotation. The definition of Privatization is the process of transforming an ownership of a business from the public sector to the private one. The privatization in Egypt has a bad reputation because of the corruption that excited in some companies. However, “privatization in Egypt- Quarterly Review April- June 2002” has a say about the effects of the privatization on Egypt. Concerning the fiscal, the privatization has led to a positive impact on the GOE finance, improved PE performance and increase in the tax payments. “On the fiscal side, the program has had major impact on reducing the burden on Government’s fiscal resources, by not only cutting future losses of the PEs, but also bringing in revenues from the sales.” (PCSU, 2002) The problem is that privatization is always related in the mind of Egyptians to the huge numbers of workers who were dismissed from their jobs because their company transferred to the private sector. Yet, the report is claiming that the labor force wasn’t affected in that ugly image we see or think we see. Many of the privatized firms didn’t have any difference in the employment levels before or after the privatization. On the contrary, there are some new jobs opportunities appeared. “Despite the fact that doing away with excess labor is a necessity in order to improve the efficiency of operations according to market principles, privatization is not necessarily tied to a reduction in workforce levels. To the contrary, examples of some Law 203 companies privatized to anchor investors suggest that employment has increased since privatization, while in the case of many IPOs and ESAs it has largely remained constant”

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(PCSU, 2002) . The inequality creates computation which has a great effect on the economical point of view and has the same effect on the psychological one as well.

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(Kiari, 2011) . The researchers has concluded two main important ideas from this research, the first one “people believe that their ideal society is not perfectly equal.” (Kiari, 2011). The people in the society know that the utopian vision of the society is not necessarily the classless one. They realize that there are differences in the distribution of wealth but they just don’t full realize how big the gab is between the top and the bottom 20% of the society. The second idea is that “Inequality is not a bad thing in and of itself, but it leads to other bad things that most people understand as negative for society.” (Kiari, 2011) The American society knows that the inequality has good effects and bad as well o the society but it is not a bad thing in itself. Inequality is not the beast that is destroying the good in our lives. It is essential for the country and for the person himself . It is the only way to follow your dreams in being in a better place

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with better circumstances and receive the appreciation the hard-worker would receive as a crowing for his attempts to be a better person.

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Works Cited Beker, G. (2011, 01 30). The Beker-Posner Blog: Bad and Good Inequality. Retrieved September 2011, from http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2011/01/bad-and-good-inequality-becker.html Herbert J. Rubin and Irene S. Rubin . (2008). Community organizationg and Development . Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Kendall, D. (2010). Social problems in a diverse society. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Kiari, P. (2011, 03 08). In a God Who Could Danceâ&#x20AC;Ś Weekly-ish Posts: A Humanist blog on Society, Econ and Religion : Inequality is Both Good & Bad: New Study on US Perceptions of and Ideals for Income Equality. Retrieved September 2011, from http://paulkiari.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/inequality-is-both-good-bad-new-study-americansdont-know-how-much-there-is/ Marger, M. N. ( 2011). Social Inequailty: Patterns and processes. New York : The McGrow-Hill Companies . PCSU, s. (2002). Privatization in Egypt- Quarterly Review April- June 2002. Egypt: CARANA.

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Noha Ghobrial RHET 201-12 Instr. Michael Gibson Critical analysis 31 October 2011 The question is: How important is the inequality for the society?

Critical analysis: Through ages there were a lot of approaches to solve the problem ofthe economic and social inequality and differences between classes. A lot of thinkers and scientists are trying to reach the perfect economic theory that will make everyone in the society satisfied with his place in whatever social class he is in. There is actually what is called “Ideal Theories” those ideas looks perfect on paper put it shows some defects in the theory. Those theories were trying to provide versions of classless society or other ones that classes can work with harmony and away from inequality. But the inequality is not that bad as it is sometimes essential for the growth of any society. First, what are the causes of class inequality? Karl Marx said answering this question “inequality arises as a result of control of productive resources, those things that are necessary to supply the society’s economic needs” (Marger). The government is the one that is control for stating the policies and lows for the production and trading .So the economic policies and planes

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that the government is using, is one of the reasons behind the existence of inequality, systems like the free market. The free market is a system that encourages the individual efforts to have a good placement in the market. Having a free market that is open for individual to be in, is the best way to have competition and always have upgraded products or services. BecauseIf the government was the only one in the market then there will be no enhancing in any aspect. Privatization is also a way that the government uses to encourage compotation. The definition of Privatization is the process of transforming an ownership of a business from the public sector to the private one. The privatization in Egypt has a bad reputation because of the corruption that excited in some companies. However, “privatization in Egypt- Quarterly Review April- June 2002” has a say about the effects of the privatization on Egypt. Concerning the fiscal, the privatization has led to a positive impact on the GOE finance, improved PE performance and increase in the tax payments. “On the fiscal side, the programhas had major impact on reducing the burden on Government’s fiscal resources, by not only cutting future losses of the PEs, but also bringing in revenues from the sales.” (PCSU) The problem is that privatization is always related in the mind of Egyptians to the huge numbers of workers who were dismissed from their jobs because their company transferred to the private sector. Yet, the report is claiming that the labor force wasn’t affected in that ugly image we see or think we see. Many of the privatized firms didn’t have any difference in the employment levels before or after the privatization. On the contrary, there are some new jobs opportunities appeared. “Despite the fact that doing away with excess labor is a necessity in order to improve the efficiency of operations according to market principles, privatization is not necessarily tied to a reduction in workforce levels. To the contrary, examples of some Law 203 companies privatized to anchor investors suggest that employment has increased since

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privatization, while in the case of many IPOs and ESAs it has largely remained constant” (PCSU) . The inequality creates computation which has a great effect on the economical point of view and has the same effect on the psychological one as well.

From the psychological aspect, there has to be inequality. The economist Gary Stanley Beckerwho has won a Nobile prize and expert concluded from his visit to china that the equalitarian approaches may result in less productivity and sluggishness between the workers. As a result there were no motivation for the workers to improve and to move to a higher state because they the effort is not worth it (Beker). They just did their work and nothing more as they need the job and there is no need to exert more effort as nothing will really change. “Urban China was then highly equalitarian, but it was also extremely poor because of very low productivity. China’s economic miracle has been in good measure based on allowing much greater inequality in pay and incomes to motivate greater productivity in both urban and rural areas.” (Beker) As seen before, inequality can form a great motivation for individuals to pursue their dreams and be a better person. The worker with the high school degree will sure receive less than the CEO that has been through years of education and trainings to reach what he is.“ While the average American college graduate earned about a 40% premium over the average high school graduate in 1980, this premium increased to over 70% in 2000. The good side of this higher education-based earnings inequality is that it induced more young men, and especially more young women, to go to and finish college.” (Beker) . Most of the people think that CEOs are receiving amounts of money that doesn’t really fair to have, while workers receives way less than him. But the effort and the amount of work done by the CEO are a lot comparing to the

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effort and the responsibility that the worker have. So if there wasn’t this huge difference between the two classes, many individuals will think that the high school degree is enough and there is no need for more effort. People follow those dreams and exert a lot of effort as they know that the society will appreciate them and provide them better life chances if they were in higher class. According a research were conducted by experts from Duck and Harvard university about the inequality in the American society (Kiari), from the results, apparently the American have no idea about the real state of the social inequality in their country?

(Kiari) . The researchers has concluded two main important ideas from this research, the first one “people believe that their ideal society is not perfectly equal.” (Kiari). The people in the society know that the utopian vision of the society is not necessarily the classless one. They realize that there are differences in the distribution of wealth but they just don’t full realize how big the gab

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is between the top and the bottom 20% of the society. The second idea is that “Inequality is not a bad thing in and of itself, but it leads to other bad things that most people understand as negative for society.” (Kiari) The American society knows that the inequality has good effects and bad as well o the society but it is not a bad thing in itself. Nowadays,the ideas of inequality is rooted and accepted in the societies. It is known that the chances are better for the rich and the poor must accept his place and work hard for himself and his family (Herbert J. Rubin and Irene S. Rubin ). The development scientist are saying that is good to have inequality but the people who are under the poverty line in the “underclass” area in the graph of the classes (Marger) should unite together to get their rights. But , Of course the government will provide a little to them to maintain the rich happy, away from problems and interested to invest more in the country . Inequality is not the beast that is destroying the good in our lives. It is essential for the country and for the person himself . It is the only way to follow your dreams in being in a better place with better circumstances and receive the appreciation the hard-worker would receive as a crowing for his attempts to be a better person. Methodology: In order to know what the opinions of the public are, I created a survey and translated it from English to Arabic to get as much opinions as I can. I had plans to go and talk to people in low classes places but it wasn't safe because of the current events in Egypt. So I focused that the survey would reach as many number as possible.

Results:

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39 is the number of the people who took my survey so far. Most of the people who took the survey were from 15 to 20 but there were also significant opinions from older participants who were 40 years old and above. First ,I introduced simple explanation about the different types of inequality, this explanation was mentioned by Matt Cowgill at "We Are All Dead" who quoted World Bank economist Branko Milanovic (Bahnisch) . He said:"Good inequality is needed to create incentives for people to study, work hard, or start risky entrepreneurial projects. None of that can be done without providing some inequality in returns…But “bad” inequality starts at a point – one not easy to define – where, rather than providing the motivation to excel, inequality provides the means to preserve acquired positions. This happens when inequality in wealth or income is used to forestall an economically positive change for the society… or to allow only the rich to get education, or to ensure that the rich keep the best jobs." And I asked if you agree or disagree with those terms:

Do you agree or disagree with those terms

I agree I disagree

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There were two participants who disagreed on the terms , one of them refused the terms "Good and Bad inequality" and the other one thought that the we should be anble to realize the point when it the bad effects of inequality apperes and we should able to spot them to work on them. My second question was:

Which socity you beleive to be more productive ?

a society that all the people are in almost the same socioeconomic class a society that has higher and lower classes

Clearly most of the people think that having different layers and classes in any society will helping making this society more productive and efficient. As appeared from the third question, Most of the people perceive the inequality and the variation between classes as a motivation to become a better person and to have better chances.

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do you consider inequality as

A motivation to be work harder and have a better life A setback that can stop in your way to achieve your dreams

The last question was:

. Do you think that we can control the bad effects of Inequality as corruption and the gab between the rich and the poor ?

Yes No

Most of the participants agreed that those effects can be controlled and they suggested applicable solutions. For example: they said that laws should be implemented so that we can stop the corruption, thus more opportunities â&#x20AC;&#x201C;that were monopolized by rich only- will be open for the poor. This will allow more social mobility which will result in more productivity.

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Analysis: As appeared in the results of the survey, people accept the concept of inequality. They understand how essential it for the society. People accept having poor and rich in the society, because every human have a role in to society that he plays through his work and education and social states. It is realized how important is the gender, but it should also be noticed that if he worked hard and may be tried to get more educated, he has the right to claim higher position in his institution. Most of the suggested opinions talked about enforcing laws and severe punishment for anyone that interferes with the open opportunities. But none of them talked about themselves, because most of the tome we just realize other people’s part in the problem not ours. There are actually laws against bribe and playing with scores or cheating, but people never stopped doing them. It is now “news” when someone refuses a bribe as it became the usual. Now it is accepted in any governmental institution that the any employee can ask you for a fixed amount of money to finish his duty. Because of the injustice that Mubarak regime was enforcing, people didn’t see the small bribes as a problem. However, all the people complained about the rich people who steal the good of the country and didn’t complain about the employee that takes small amounts of many every day or the tutors who suck the blood of the parents because the schools are not providing good education. I realize the difference between the rich and the poor when he give or take a bribe but it is the same concept.

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Works Cited Bahnisch, Mark. "‘Good’ and ‘bad’ inequality: A social democratic perspective." 21 July 2011. <http://larvatusprodeo.net/2011/07/21/good-and-bad-inequality-a-social-democratic-perspective/>. Beker, Gray. The Beker-Posner Blog: Bad and Good Inequality. 30 01 2011. September 2011 <http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2011/01/bad-and-good-inequality-becker.html>. Herbert J. Rubin and Irene S. Rubin . Community organizationg and Development . Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2008. Kendall, Diana. Social problems in a diverse society. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2010. Kiari, Paul. In a God Who Could Dance… Weekly-ish Posts: A Humanist blog on Society, Econ and Religion : Inequality is Both Good & Bad: New Study on US Perceptions of and Ideals for Income Equality. 08 03 2011. September 2011 <http://paulkiari.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/inequality-is-both-good-bad-newstudy-americans-dont-know-how-much-there-is/>. Marger, Martin N. Social Inequailty: Patterns and processes. New York : The McGrow-Hill Companies , 2011. PCSU, staff. Privatization in Egypt- Quarterly Review April- June 2002. Egypt: CARANA, 2002.

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Noha Ghobrial RHET 201-12 Instr. Michael Gibson Critical analysis (enhanced) Critical analysis: Many approaches and initiatives were taken through aiming the economic and social inequality and differences between classes. A lot of thinkers and scientists were and still trying to reach the perfect economic theory that will make everyone in the society satisfied with his place in whatever social class he is in. There is actually what is called “Ideal Theories”, those ideas looks perfect on paper, yet it shows issues and problems in the appliance in real world. Those theories were trying to provide versions of classless society or other ones that classes can work with harmony and away from inequality. But the inequality is not that bad as it is sometimes essential for the growth of any society. First, what are the causes of class inequality? Karl Marx said answering this question “inequality arises as a result of control of productive resources, those things that are necessary to supply the society’s economic needs” (Marger, 2011). Taking decisions and putting polices concerning the economy is the responsibility of the government. So the economic policies and planes that the government is using is one of the reasons behind the existence of inequality, like the free market for example. As defined in Dictionary.com “it is an economic system in which prices and wages are determined by unrestricted competition between businesses without

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government regulation or fear of monopolies”. Having a free market that is open for individual to be in, is the one of the best ways to have competition and always have upgraded products or services. If the government was the only one in the market then there will be no enhancing in any aspect. Privatization is also a way that the government uses to encourage compotation. The definition of Privatization is the process of transforming an ownership of a business from the public sector to the private one. The privatization in Egypt has a bad reputation because of the corruption that excited in some companies. However, the economy experts who wrote “privatization in Egypt- Quarterly Review April- June 2002” have a say about the effects of the privatization on Egypt. The privatization has led to a positive impact on the GOE finance, improved PE performance and increase in the tax payments. “On the fiscal side, the program has had major impact on reducing the burden on Government’s fiscal resources, by not only cutting future losses of the PEs, but also bringing in revenues from the sales.” (PCSU, 2002) The problem is that privatization is always related in the mind of Egyptians to the huge numbers of workers who were dismissed from their jobs because of the downsizing that the companies does when they are transferred to the private sector. Yet, the report is claiming that the labor force wasn’t affected in that ugly image we see or think we see. Many of the privatized firms didn’t have any difference in the employment levels before or after the privatization. On the contrary, there are new job opportunities appeared as some of the new owners of the privatized company are trying to enhance the hierarchy of the company or the factory so they put new positions that helps the increase of productivity. “Despite the fact that doing away with excess labor is a necessity in order to improve the efficiency of operations according to market principles, privatization is not necessarily tied to a reduction in workforce levels. To the

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contrary, examples of some Law 203 companies privatized to anchor investors suggest that employment has increased since privatization, while in the case of many IPOs and ESAs it has largely remained constant” (PCSU, 2002) . The inequality creates computation which has a great effect on the economical point of view and has the same effect on the psychological one as well. From the psychological aspect, there has to be inequality. Gary Stanley Becker –A famous economist who won a Nobile prize- concluded from his visit to China that the equalitarian approach may result in less productivity and sluggishness between the workers. As a result there were no motivation for the workers to improve and to move to a higher state because they the effort is not worth it (Beker, 2011). They just did their work and nothing more as they need the job and there is no need to exert more effort as nothing will really change. “Urban China was then highly equalitarian, but it was also extremely poor because of very low productivity. China’s economic miracle has been in good measure based on allowing much greater inequality in pay and incomes to motivate greater productivity in both urban and rural areas.” (Beker, 2011) As seen before, inequality can form a great motivation for individuals to pursue their dreams and be a better person. The worker with the high school degree will sure receive less than the CEO that has been through years of education and trainings to reach what he is. “While the average American college graduate earned about a 40% premium over the average high school graduate in 1980, this premium increased to over 70% in 2000. The good side of this higher education-based earnings inequality is that it induced more young men, and especially more young women, to go to and finish college.” (Beker, 2011) . Most of the people think that CEOs are receiving amounts of money is way more than what they deserve, while workers receive less

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than them. But the effort and the amount of work done by the CEO are a lot comparing to the effort and the responsibility that the worker have. So if there wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t this huge difference between the two classes, many individuals will think that the high school degree is enough and there is no need for more effort. People follow their dreams and exert a lot of effort as they know that the society will appreciate them and let them have better life chances if they were in higher class. According a research was conducted by experts from Duck and Harvard university about the inequality in the American society (Kiari, 2011), from the results, apparently Americans have no idea about the real state of the social inequality in their country

(Kiari, 2011) . The researchers have concluded two main important ideas from this research. The first idea is: â&#x20AC;&#x153;people believe that their ideal society is not perfectly equal.â&#x20AC;? (Kiari, 2011). The people in the society know that the utopian vision of the society is not necessarily the classless one.

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They realize that there are differences in the distribution of wealth but they just don’t full realize how big the gab is between the top and the bottom 20% of the society. The second idea is that “Inequality is not a bad thing in and of itself, but it leads to other bad things that most people understand as negative for society.” (Kiari, 2011) The American society knows that the inequality has good and bad consequences as well on the society but it is not a bad thing in itself. Nowadays, the ideas of inequality is rooted and accepted in all societies. It is known that the chances are better for the rich, and the poor must accept his place and work hard for himself and his family (Herbert J. Rubin and Irene S. Rubin , 2008). The development scientists are saying that is good to have inequality but the people who are under the poverty line in the “underclass” area in the graph of the classes (Marger, 2011) should unite together to get their rights. But, Of course the government will provide a little to them to maintain the rich happy, away from problems and interested to invest more in the country.

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Work cited: 

Beker, Gray. The Beker-Posner Blog: Bad and Good Inequality. 30 01 2011. September 2011 <http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2011/01/bad-and-good-inequalitybecker.html>.



Herbert J. Rubin and Irene S. Rubin . Community organizationg and Development . Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2008.



Kendall, Diana. Social problems in a diverse society. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2010.



Kiari, Paul. In a God Who Could Dance… Weekly-ish Posts: A Humanist blog on Society, Econ and Religion : Inequality is Both Good & Bad: New Study on US Perceptions of and Ideals for Income Equality. 08 03 2011. September 2011 <http://paulkiari.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/inequality-is-both-good-bad-new-studyamericans-dont-know-how-much-there-is/>.



Marger, Martin N. Social Inequailty: Patterns and processes. New York : The McGrowHill Companies , 2011.



PCSU, staff. Privatization in Egypt- Quarterly Review April- June 2002. Egypt: CARANA, 2002.

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Noha Ghobrial RHET 201-12 Instr. Michael Gibson 20, December 2011 The hidden face of inequality Introduction: Throughout the human history social and economic inequality has been observed by historians and philosophers repeatedly. A lot of regimes were removed by revolution or violence because the people couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t handle the features of inequality in their society. Most of the time, the word inequality is related to bad incidents in our minds. Several NGOs nowadays made there one and only aim is to remove inequality from the society. But inequality is like anything in the world; it has bad and good sides. We always remember the bad ones as they affect our life in more obvious ways than the good ones. Through research and reading I discovered that there are good effects that happen because of the diversity in the socioeconomic statues of the citizens. Those effects appear when there is inequality but not corruption which is one of the phenomena that are related to the existence of inequality in many societies. Critical analysis: Many approaches and initiatives were taken through aiming the economic and social inequality and differences between classes. A lot of thinkers and scientists were and still trying to reach the perfect economic theory that will make everyone in the society satisfied with his place in whatever social class he is in. There is actually what is called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ideal Theoriesâ&#x20AC;?, those ideas looks perfect on paper, yet it shows issues and problems in the appliance in real world. Those

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theories were trying to provide versions of classless society or other ones that classes can work with harmony and away from inequality. But the inequality is not that bad as it is sometimes essential for the growth of any society. First, what are the causes of class inequality? Karl Marx said answering this question “inequality arises as a result of control of productive resources, those things that are necessary to supply the society’s economic needs” (Marger, 2011). Taking decisions and putting polices concerning the economy is the responsibility of the government. So the economic policies and planes that the government is using is one of the reasons behind the existence of inequality, like the free market for example. As defined in Dictionary.com “it is an economic system in which prices and wages are determined by unrestricted competition between businesses without government regulation or fear of monopolies”. Having a free market that is open for individual to be in, is the one of the best ways to have competition and always have upgraded products or services. If the government was the only one in the market then there will be no enhancing in any aspect. Privatization is also a way that the government uses to encourage compotation. The definition of Privatization is the process of transforming an ownership of a business from the public sector to the private one. The privatization in Egypt has a bad reputation because of the corruption that excited in some companies. However, the economy experts who wrote “privatization in Egypt- Quarterly Review April- June 2002” have a say about the effects of the privatization on Egypt. The privatization has led to a positive impact on the GOE finance, improved PE performance and increase in the tax payments. “On the fiscal side, the program has had major impact on reducing the burden on Government’s fiscal resources, by not only cutting future losses of the PEs, but also bringing in revenues from the sales.” (PCSU, 2002)

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The problem is that privatization is always related in the mind of Egyptians to the huge numbers of workers who were dismissed from their jobs because of the downsizing that the companies does when they are transferred to the private sector. Yet, the report is claiming that the labor force wasn’t affected in that ugly image we see or think we see. Many of the privatized firms didn’t have any difference in the employment levels before or after the privatization. On the contrary, there are new job opportunities appeared as some of the new owners of the privatized company are trying to enhance the hierarchy of the company or the factory so they put new positions that helps the increase of productivity. “Despite the fact that doing away with excess labor is a necessity in order to improve the efficiency of operations according to market principles, privatization is not necessarily tied to a reduction in workforce levels. To the contrary, examples of some Law 203 companies privatized to anchor investors suggest that employment has increased since privatization, while in the case of many IPOs and ESAs it has largely remained constant” (PCSU, 2002) . The inequality creates computation which has a great effect on the economical point of view and has the same effect on the psychological one as well. From the psychological aspect, there has to be inequality. Gary Stanley Becker –A famous economist who won a Nobile prize- concluded from his visit to China that the equalitarian approach may result in less productivity and sluggishness between the workers. As a result there were no motivation for the workers to improve and to move to a higher state because they the effort is not worth it (Beker, 2011). They just did their work and nothing more as they need the job and there is no need to exert more effort as nothing will really change. “Urban China was then highly equalitarian, but it was also extremely poor because of very low productivity. China’s economic miracle has been in good measure based on allowing much

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greater inequality in pay and incomes to motivate greater productivity in both urban and rural areas.” (Beker, 2011) As seen before, inequality can form a great motivation for individuals to pursue their dreams and be a better person. The worker with the high school degree will sure receive less than the CEO that has been through years of education and trainings to reach what he is. “While the average American college graduate earned about a 40% premium over the average high school graduate in 1980, this premium increased to over 70% in 2000. The good side of this higher education-based earnings inequality is that it induced more young men, and especially more young women, to go to and finish college.” (Beker, 2011) . Most of the people think that CEOs are receiving amounts of money is way more than what they deserve, while workers receive less than them. But the effort and the amount of work done by the CEO are a lot comparing to the effort and the responsibility that the worker have. So if there wasn’t this huge difference between the two classes, many individuals will think that the high school degree is enough and there is no need for more effort. People follow their dreams and exert a lot of effort as they know that the society will appreciate them and let them have better life chances if they were in higher class. According a research was conducted by experts from Duck and Harvard university about the inequality in the American society (Kiari, 2011), from the results, apparently Americans have no idea about the real state of the social inequality in their country

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(Kiari, 2011) . The researchers have concluded two main important ideas from this research. The first idea is: “people believe that their ideal society is not perfectly equal.” (Kiari, 2011). The people in the society know that the utopian vision of the society is not necessarily the classless one. They realize that there are differences in the distribution of wealth but they just don’t full realize how big the gab is between the top and the bottom 20% of the society. The second idea is that “Inequality is not a bad thing in and of itself, but it leads to other bad things that most people understand as negative for society.” (Kiari, 2011) The American society knows that the inequality has good and bad consequences as well on the society but it is not a bad thing in itself. Nowadays, the ideas of inequality is rooted and accepted in all societies. There is this famous concept called legitimation which is “the process by which people come to accept the stratification system.” Part of this process is ideology which is a set of beliefs, ideas and values

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that supports the major societal institutions and the unequal outcomes they produce (Marger). Social scientists tried to provide explanations to this phenomenon that make all the classes in any gives society accept the differences between them. Marxist tried to explain that through what they call ideological hegemony which is the prevalence of one’s group ideology over all the others. It is known that the chances are better for the rich, and the poor must accept his place and work hard for himself and his family (Herbert J. Rubin and Irene S. Rubin , 2008). The development scientists are saying that is good to have inequality but the people who are under the poverty line in the “underclass” area in the graph of the classes (Marger, 2011) should unite together to get their rights. But, Of course the government will provide a little to them to maintain the rich happy, away from problems and interested to invest more in the country.

Results: 39 is the number of the people who took my survey so far. Most of the people who took the survey were from 15 to 20 but there were also significant opinions from older participants who were 40 years old and above. First ,I introduced simple explanation about the different types of inequality, this explanation was mentioned by Matt Cowgill at "We Are All Dead" who quoted World Bank economist Branko Milanovic (Bahnisch) . He said: "Good inequality is needed to create incentives for people to study, work hard, or start risky entrepreneurial projects. None of that can be done without providing some inequality in returns…But “bad” inequality starts at a point – one not easy to define – where, rather than providing the motivation to excel, inequality provides the means to preserve acquired positions. This happens when inequality in wealth or income is

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used to forestall an economically positive change for the societyâ&#x20AC;Ś or to allow only the rich to get education, or to ensure that the rich keep the best jobs." And I asked if you agree or disagree with those terms:

Do you agree or disagree with those terms I disagree 7%

I agree 93%

There were two participants who disagreed on the terms , one of them refused the terms "Good and Bad inequality" and the other one thought that the we should be able to realize the point when it the bad effects of inequality appears and we should able to spot them to work on them. My second question was:

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Which socity you beleive to be more productive ? a society that all the people are in almost the same socio-economic class 33% a society that has higher and lower classes 67%

do you consider inequality as A setback that can stop in your way to achieve your dreams 27%

A motivation to be work harder and have a better life 73%

The last question was:

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. Do you think that we can control the bad effects of Inequality as corruption and the gab between the rich and the poor ? No 4%

Yes 96%

Analysis: As appeared in the results of the survey, people accept the concept of inequality. They understand how essential it for the society. People accept the diversity of classes in their society between upper, middle and low classes, because every human have a role in to society that he plays through his work and education and social states. It is realized how important is the gender, but it should also be noticed that if he worked hard and may be tried to get more educated, he has the right to claim higher position in his institution.

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Most of the suggested opinions talked about enforcing laws and severe punishment for anyone that interferes with the open opportunities. But none of them talked about themselves, because most of the tome we just realize other people’s part in the problem not ours. There are actually laws against bribe and playing with scores or cheating, but people never stopped doing them. It is now “news” when someone refuses a bribe as it became the usual. Now it is accepted in any governmental institution that the any employee can ask you for a fixed amount of money to finish his duty. Because of the injustice that Mubarak regime was enforcing, people didn’t see the small bribes as a problem. However, all the people complained about the rich people who steal the good of the country and didn’t complain about the employee that takes small amounts of many every day or the tutors who suck the blood of the parents because the schools are not providing good education. I realize the difference between the rich and the poor when he give or take a bribe but it is the same concept. Conclusion: Inequality is not a bad thing in itself. But the human nature allows corruption in the society everything goes wrong. There are a lot of factors that makes the inequality bad or good thing and we are the ones who choose the effect we want. It also depends on the economic system of the society and the capitalist class in it. It is the ideas the upper class give to the lower class about their chances and there placements. In the American society, the higher class and the government is spreading the idea of “The American Dream” that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you came from, as long as you work hard you can be the rich and have political influence … etc. but in corrupted society like the Egyptian one, you can’t have a good life unless you know someone influential that will help you get this life you dream of. People here can’t commit or love their job because they are forced to do it and what they dreamed of being, they couldn’t

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be it. However, I see a bright of hope in the coming generations here in Egypt as they are fed up with the bad effects of inequality. Whenever we win Egypt back, a bright future is ahead of us. Survey Questions: “Good” inequality is needed to create incentives for people to study, work hard, or start risky entrepreneurial projects. None of that can be done without providing some inequality in returns… But “bad” inequality starts at a point – one not easy to define – where, rather than providing the motivation to excel, inequality provides the means to preserve acquired positions. This happens when inequality in wealth or income is used to forestall an economically positive change for the society… or to allow only the rich to get education, or to ensure that the rich keep the best jobs. 1. Do you agree with those terms ? Yes No Other 2- Which socity you beleive to be more productive ? -

a society that all the people are in almost the same socio-economic

a society that has higher and lower classes

3- do you consider inequality as -

A setback that can stop in your way to achieve your dreams

A motivation to be work harder and have a better life

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4- Do you think that we can control the bad effects of Inequality as corruption and the gab between the rich and the poor? -

Yes

5- Gender -

Male

Female

6- Age 7- Work/School 8- Your social class: -

Upper class

Upper middle class

Middle class

Low class

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Work cited: Beker, Gray. The Beker-Posner Blog: Bad and Good Inequality. 30 01 2011. September <http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2011/01/bad-and-good-inequality-becker.html>.

2011

Herbert J. Rubin and Irene S. Rubin . Community organizationg and Development . Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2008. Kendall, Diana. Social problems in a diverse society. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2010. Kiari, Paul. In a God Who Could Danceâ&#x20AC;Ś Weekly-ish Posts: A Humanist blog on Society, Econ and Religion : Inequality is Both Good & Bad: New Study on US Perceptions of and Ideals for Income Equality. 08 03 2011. September 2011 <http://paulkiari.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/inequality-is-both-good-bad-new-study-americansdont-know-how-much-there-is/>. Marger, Martin N. Social Inequailty: Patterns and processes. New York : The McGrow-Hill Companies , 2011. PCSU, staff. Privatization in Egypt- Quarterly Review April- June 2002. Egypt: CARANA, 2002.