That “We” Feeling

Maureen Lane

That “We” Feeling

In the late 18th century, philosopher David Hume classified sympathy or that feeling we have for fellow human beings, as the foundation of moral obligation. "Hume writes, “The same social sympathy, we may observe, or fellow-feeling with human happiness or misery.”

Hume saw our human empathy as the basis of morality. He figured human beings generally did not go around hurting others not so much because of rational thought but because we have that ‘fellow-feeling’ toward each other.

Hume notes we are heartened more by personal good news or good tidings of our friends or loved ones than to ‘some distant commonwealth’.

Hume thought nature focuses us on our personal connections so our actions will have impact. So we don’t spread ourselves too thin and to aid our understanding. We understand things easier that are familiar to us.

The personal is universal.

Unless we start thinking about others as not the same as us. In Hume’s era many thought of African slavery as about people not like us, for example.

This week in City Limits, Tram Whitehurst writes, “New York City is changing the way it measures poverty among its residents. By the middle of next year, the city will replace the federal poverty measure—which has been used for almost 40 years—with new guidelines it is developing to get a better picture of who is living in poverty and how city initiatives affect those residents…The goal…. is to advance the discussion about poverty and to highlight the distance between the poverty level and financial stability…. inform the way government looks at poverty and makes funding decisions.”

Right now there is a little bit of 'them and us' in policy discourse. If we start thinking about the economic divide in new ways, we might actually find dynamic solutions and strategies that envelop more of 'us.'

In the article Merble Reagon, Executive Director, Women’s Center for Education and Career Advancement notes, "a household in Queens with one adult, one preschooler and one school age child would have to make $54,961 just to cover basic expenses, according to the standard. The federal poverty level for the same family is $17,170. “

That means that the families of 3 with incomes in between $54,961 and $17,170 are struggling just like the families below poverty level. That's a big chunk of 'us' and a smaller and smaller number of 'them'.

In the last 5 or 6 years measures have shown a growing income divide in the U.S. In Adrian Wooldridge's article for The Economist "Meritocracy in America", he argues ”Income inequality is growing to levels not seen since the Gilded Age, around the 1880s. But social mobility is not increasing at anything like the same pace: would-be Horatio Algers are finding it no easier to climb from rags to riches, while the children of the privileged have a greater chance of staying at the top of the social heap."

It is clear the more we understand and recognize those things in life that unite humanity the more we connect to that ‘fellow-feeling.’ Often we are instructed that the poor are the “underclass” and very different from the rest of us. The result are public policies that actually hinder our fellows. To name a couple, I have written of many welfare and education policies that prevent people from advancing.

In stark contrast to the need, government programs that should be available to those in need have eligibility thresholds that are low-painfully low. Most government programs do not apply to people at over 200 % of the poverty line when it is evident that more people need more resources to be economically secure. This separates us even more.

The economic measure work that is highlighted in the City Limits piece bodes well for those who believe more in "we" than in them and us.

Posted at 7:20 AM, Nov 22, 2007 in Progressive Agenda | Welfare | Permalink | Comments (4)

Comments

As a progressive I am concerned about my fellow progressives support of the hiring of illegal workers. This undermines the middle class and exploits the undocumented worker. I grew up in a family that was supported by a hard working construction worker. First Reagan destroyed the unions and then opened the gates for the business lobby to hire anyone who was willing to sneak across the boarder go to work under sub-standard conditions. It breaks my heart to see to poverty south on the US, but lowering the blue collar workers already bad standard of living is not the answer. Stand up for the American blue collar worker or lose their vote to who ever will.

hi michael,

I welcome your comment.

I agree with your concern about undocumented workers being exploited. In fact, DMI immigration policy argues: "It is not the presence of undocumented immigrants themselves that harms the middle class, but the fact that they can be so easily exploited in the workplace. The vulnerability of undocumented immigrants in the workplace puts downward pressure on wages and working conditions for all workers, making it harder to achieve and hold onto a middle-class standard of living. Many employers take advantage of immigrants' precarious status to cut costs for wages, benefits, and workplace safety. They may then be less willing to hire U.S.- born workers if they demand better wages and working conditions. U.S.-born workers are left to either accept the same poor conditions as immigrants living under the threat of deportation or be shut out of whole industries." In addition, it is clear all workers can benefit from strengthening workers rights. Fairer labor standards for all, directly benefit American blue collar workers.

The "we" I refer to in the blog includes blue collar, middle class, immigrants, documented and undocumented as well as families receiving welfare. The pie "we" share needs to expand not made smaller by our division of 'us' vs. 'them.'

Your message at the end of your comment troubles me.

I hear your frustration and I believe that a progressive system that values all human beings and believes that government is meant to serve the needs of people, still holds better promise for blue collar, white collar, and no collar, than anything out there now.

Keep reading the blogs.
M

Response to That “We” Feeling by Maureen Lane

I believe the government is designed to create factions; they set “us” up against each other, so we don’t go after “them.” You make an interesting point when you say “In Hume’s era many thought of African slavery as about people not like us, for example.” I think this is similar to the idea that people tend to identify with the class above them. The same way white people try not to relate to black people and vice versa as a means of escaping the “fellow-feeling,” working class people try to identify with middle class people as a means of escaping social stigma. There is, after all, a stigma attached to being poor despite the fact that there are more people living in poverty than there are rich people.
There is far too wide a gap between the “the poverty level and financial stability.” Considering that most government programs are not set up to assist families who are economically unstable, but living above the poverty line, there are many people in need of financial assistance that just can’t get it- this is a serious problem. It just goes to show that that “we feeling” that Hume identifies “as the foundation of moral obligation” is on the verge of extinction. It has been replaced in many people’s hearts with indifference.

Maureen -

Thank you for stating DMI's stance on immigration policy, that "It is not the presence of undocumented immigrants themselves that harms the middle class, but the fact that they can be so easily exploited in the workplace." In a world that constantly embeds this dog-eat-dog mentality in us, or the "us" vs. "them" idea, we need to properly analyze the source of woes. They do not stem from an individual's need for survival - they stem from the system in place that pits them in a state of survival.

I have heard Mr. Holmes' rebuttal to your immigrant argument a thousand times - my daddy, my grandaddy, my granddaddy's grandaddy worked so awful hard, and how dare you suggest that I relinquish our hard earned privileges for some measly wage slaves. Blue-collar? White supremacy. Next time you eat at a restaurant, think about the hands that prepared your hamburger - they came a long ways from home to serve you.