Issue 1: Definition
How can the phrase “paradox of affluence” be interpreted?
Affluence
Pronunciation: ‘a-(”)flü-&n(t)s also a-’flü- or &-
1 : a: an abundant flow or supply : PROFUSION b: abundance of property : WEALTH
2 : a flowing to or toward a point : INFLUX
Paradox
Pronunciation: ‘per-&-”däks, ‘pa-r&-
1 : a tenet contrary to received opinion
2 : a: a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true b: a self-contradictory statement that at first seems true c: an argument that apparently derives self-contradictory conclusions by valid deduction from acceptable premises
3 : one (as a person, situation, or action) having seemingly contradictory qualities or phases
Source: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary - www.m-w.com/dictionary
Study Questions
- What are the criteria we use to define affluence?
- What are the criteria we use to define paradox? Discuss some examples of paradoxes.
- How do different societies define affluence?
- How can we distinguish between relative affluence and relative poverty?
- How has the definition of affluence changed over time?
- To what extent is the definition of affluence defined by one’s culture?
- To what extent does technology define affluence in contemporary society?
- How has the pursuit of affluence determined the course of history?
- To what extent has globalization been a force for change in the modern world?
- What is meant by the phrase “paradox of affluence”? Is there a paradox of affluence?
- What are some of the ramifications of affluence being a paradox?
- What is an example of the paradox of affluence in your life?
- To what extent is affluence a prerequisite to leadership?
Honors in Action
Project description: As a chapter, research the background about and watch the Sergio Arau satirical film A Day Without a Mexican (2004). Invite a social sciences faculty member and/or a member of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) to participate in a forum dialogue on the film. Discuss the implications for society if one part of the population is suddenly removed. What does the film say about affluence in American culture? How are attitudes about affluence presented in the film? In what ways are the paradoxes of affluence made apparent in the film? Identify leadership lessons you can learn from the film. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Fellowship
Project description: Consider the development of affluence and poverty in your local community. Using resources such as historical societies, museums, local records, input from faculty in anthropology, economics, sociology, and other disciplines, look at how these patterns have evolved over time. How have these patterns of affluence and poverty in your community changed through the years? How are these patterns changing today? How does understanding these patterns help you understand your community structure and prepare you to be more effective leaders? Prepare a display of your findings for presentation on your campus, and share them with local groups. Organize a leadership and service “action team” to address one of the issues in your community. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Fellowship
Project description: Invite faculty members and local leaders to present at an open forum on whether or not there is a paradox of affluence and, if so, how that paradox is reflected in your community. As a chapter, prepare some items for discussion during the presentation. Film the forum and make it available for other groups to use, or post the forum on a website for later viewing. Identify an area of concern, based on what you learn from conducting this forum, which your chapter can address with a project that promotes both service and leadership development among members. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Fellowship
Project description: As an organized chapter activity, discuss what you see as the paradoxes of affluence in your lives. What patterns of commonality emerge? What are some of the unique paradoxes each of you face? What are the consequences of these patterns? What challenges and choices do these patterns present? How does deeper understanding of your personal paradoxes prepare you to lead your life differently? How can you learn to be more effective servant leaders by understanding these paradoxes? Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Fellowship
Project description: Explore issues of affluence and social status with two plays: George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion (1916)* and Douglas Turner Ward’s play Day of Absence (1965). As a single act, humorous, satirical play, a chapter could create their own presentation of Day of Absence as a Reader’s Theatre production. Pygmalion could be presented similarly, or a chapter could show the musical film version, My Fair Lady. The two plays interpret the paradox of affluence and explore issues of affluence and social status in contrasting ways, one through illustrating the consequences of separation or removal of a group and the other through describing the challenge of assimilation. Do the two plays also define the paradox of affluence in contrasting ways, or is the definition similar? What implications do the different approaches - exclusion versus assimilation - have for leaders concerned with issues of social class? Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Fellowship
Project description: Invite international students to a chapter meeting to speak about their definitions of relative affluence and relative poverty in their countries. How do their distinctions match or vary from traditional American notions? What are the indicators of affluence and poverty in their nations? How do they view affluence and poverty in America? Discuss the leadership lessons you can learn from having a working knowledge of the differing ways peoples and nations have about the paradox of affluence. Expand this dialogue to reach Phi Theta Kappa members from around the world by hosting an online forum on the issues raised in your chapter meeting. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Fellowship
Project description: As a chapter, read Thomas Friedman’s book, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization (1999). Host a dialogue on the book. What are some of the consequences for the development or decline of affluence Friedman explores in the global marketplace? Identify leaders who understand globalization and the consequences and challenges that rising or falling affluence present. Are any of these consequences or challenges present in your community? What actions are the leaders you identify undertaking or recommending? Work to raise awareness of these leaders and how their efforts could also impact your community positively. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Fellowship
Project description: Research the Kyoto Protocol, the United Nations treaty to reduce greenhouse emissions by developed countries in order to combat global warming. Assign a country to chapter members to determine what the country’s stance is on the Kyoto Protocol and why. Why is a heavier burden placed on developed nations in reducing greenhouse emissions? Is this fair? Why, or why not? Host a forum on campus or at a regional meeting to discuss your chapter’s findings. Invite faculty members to moderate the discussion. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Fellowship
Project description: Research litter in your community to determine what role affluence plays in the amount of litter found in neighborhoods or streets. To help with your research, consider using Keep America Beautiful’s Litter Index Tool, www.kabtoolbox.org, a credible and simple tool that allows quick and reliable visual assessment of the types of litter present in a community. Then organize a community cleanup event in a neighborhood plagued by litter. Be sure to include residents in the cleanup efforts. Hallmarks addressed: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Fellowship
Bibliography
- Clinton, Bill. Giving: How Each Of Us Can Change The World. 2007.
- Clinton tells the stories of people who have changed the world and the global landscape by giving to others and how the choices people make as servant leaders can genuinely affect the paradox of affluence.
- Easterbrook, Gregg. The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse. 2004.
- Easterbrook investigates the axiom “money doesn’t buy happiness” and finds, in many cases, it may be true. While many aspects of life in the 21st century are improving, people have a pessimistic view of the world. He explores why we are more affluent, but less happy.
- El-Ghonemy, M. Affluence and Poverty in the Middle East. 1998.
- El-Ghonemy investigates the choices, challenges, and consequences of persistent poverty and economic inequalities in North Africa and the Middle East.
- Friedman, Thomas L. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. 2006.
- Friedman argues that cheap and readily available communication has removed the obstacles to global commerce and trade, making all parts of the world equally accessible.Outsourcing of services, manufacturing overseas, and the potential to build new forms of leadership in American business offer potential for new types and levels of affluence.
- Galbraith, John Kenneth. The Affluent Society. 1997. (40th anniversary edition)
- Galbraith discusses the meaning of affluence and economic security in an industrial age and the hazards of individual and societal complacency about economic inequality.
- Schwartz, Barry. The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. 2005.
- Schwartz looks at the extraordinary choices people have in the 21st century and investigates how many of those choices are actually distinctive choices and why they do not necessarily make people content.
* material is included in Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies: A Humanities Approach. This book is available online at www.ptk.org/recognitions/catalog/
