Social Corruption
Some theorists argue that lotteries facilitate a higher degree of inequality than a society should have to maximize its progress by giving the masses false hope, which reduces pressure on political leaders to remedy the inequality. Rather than traditional religion, the pursuit of imaginary future wealth, via lottery play, is seen as an opium of the people Marx spoke of. Another criticism is that lotteries, particularly those involving large sums, suggest that capitalist social systems do not possess meritocracy as their main attribute but rather are dominated by other factors, such as luck. For instance, one could be lucky to be born into wealth and one could be lucky to win a large sum in a lottery. The revelation that one's life in a plutocratic system is dominated by chance rather than rewards for hard work and intelligence is one that is considered dangerous by some. Purists argue that any social system that allocates resources based on chance is one that is corrupt.
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Famous quotes containing the words social and/or corruption:
“Let us hope ... that by the best cultivation of the physical world, beneath and around us; and the intellectual and moral world within us, we shall secure an individual, social and political prosperity and happiness, whose course shall be onward and upward, and which, while the earth endures, shall not pass away.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“The corruption of the age is produced by the individual contribution of each one of us; some contribute treachery, others injustice, irreligion, tyranny, avarice, cruelty, in accordance with their greater power; the weaker ones bring stupidity, vanity, passivity, and I am one of them.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)