Research Paper Introduction

Many people in the world today feel the effects of the harshness of social and economic inequality. In society, inequality creates hierarchies. Those with wealth and power are at the top while the general public suffers at the bottom. The consequences of economic inequality can best be summarized by Oliver Goldsmith: “Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.” Society’s wealth is concentrated at the top, owned almost entirely by a wealthy few, while those at the bottom suffer. In America, the top 1% holds more wealth than all of the bottom 90%. In this hierarchy, the top 1% has an astounding amount of control over the bottom 90% as a result of their wealth. Much of this control is through their ability to use their wealth to manipulate and control the information that the general public receives. The top of the hierarchy gains more power and wealth by using their resources to control the masses, strategically sharing only certain aspects of the truth to skew the public’s perspective. Not only is this an issue in the United States, but throughout the globe as well. Those at the top of society’s economic and social ladders, regardless of country of origin, use their existing resources to further their own interests and gain even more power and wealth. This manipulation is shown in the following works: Joseph Stiglitz’s “Rent Seeking and the Making of an Unequal Society,” Ethan Watters’ “The Mega Marketing of Depression in Japan,” and Beth Loffreda’s “Losing Matt Shepard: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder.” Specifically, these works detail how exactly those at the top manipulate those on the bottom. “The Mega Marketing of Depression in Japan” exposes the greedy nature of the pharmaceutical industry and how they social stigma surrounding mental illness to their advantage for their own economic gain. “Losing Matt Shepard” looks at the darker side of the media, revealing how information is often manipulated to control the public and their opinions. This paper will explore how those on top of the economic and social hierarchies use their wealth and power to control how information is disseminated throughout the general public while also exploring  the effect that this manipulation of information has on society as a whole.