In-Equality

It seems important to say that i do not believe that addiction and in particular heroin addiction is a simple problem that can be traced to one route cause and that if we simply fix or treat this cause it will go away. What i do believe is that successive governments have failed to look at one glaringly obvious aspect of the heroin crisis, because I believe that if they really did look it would reveal some disturbing facts about the un-equal society in which we live. 


Equality or in this case in-equality is produced and re-produced in our society in a number of ways, through systems that would perhaps surprise you. In recent times the study of equality has become far more main stream and there have been real advances in how we even measure and define equality. The paper listed in the bibliography for instance by Baker et al, from the UCD school of equality lays out some interesting ways in which we can think about equality in societal terms and I urge you to read it. 


Baker and his colleges identified three broad ways in which we can think about equality, basic equality, equality of condition and liberal egalitarianism. The complexity of how these are divided is beyond the scope of this discussion but i urge you to read the paper and think about it in relation to Irish society. Once you have ask yourself if we are even meeting up to idea's of basic equality in some of our urban working class neighborhoods, do they afford people basic respect, basic subsistence and protection against inhuman and degrading treatment? The answer to this question based on real life experience of living and working in these communities is a shocking one, particularly in the light of how much money was made in this country throughout the Celtic tiger era.


The same paper identifies a number of key social systems with in society that directly affect the level of equality. These fall under four main headings, economic, cultural, political and affective. As we go through the year I will cast a critical eye over each of these social systems in the hope of developing what it is about Irish society that makes it so un-equal, how the systems produce and re-produce this in-equality and how this directly affects the heroin crisis.