In my early childhood there were no pre-school play groups. When you reached a certain age you attended the local state primary school. Unlike today there was no choice involved: live in the catchment area of a school, then it was the one you had to go to.
There were no school uniforms and it became apparent to me that some of my peers came from well-to-do families, others from financially poor families. This showed itself in how pupils dressed, toys and lifestyle. Some kids had holidays at the seaside, or even abroad, others had no holidays away from home. Thus it was that I came to understand that not all have equal opportunities and ambitions.
I passed the 11 Plus examination and was rewarded with a place at the local state boys' grammar school. The demarcation of kids at this age was stark. Grammar schools opened opportunites for an education leading to university, the professions, senior positions in government etc. Secondary modern schools were for those society expected to undertake 'other' work: labourers, factory workers, janitors, miners, etc.
My understanding of how 'the system' worked was brought home to me by the streaming system at my school, The top stream had all the better teachers and pupils were pressed to study harder. Top stream pupils were the ones expected to do well in examinations and gain entry to top universities. I noted that pupils in the top stream were not there on intellectual ability. Places were reserved for the sons of the local establishment: sons of vicars, local government officers and councillors, doctors, solicitors, accountants, local trade union leaders, business leaders etc. Selection based on class and status.
Thus it was that my embryonic ideas formed that we were not equal, that society was geared to maintaining advantages for some. In other words what I came to know as systemic injustice.
I was fortunate to make it to university. My studies for a law degree led me to understand how politics and law could be used to either protect those with privilege in society, or as a vehicle for change.
I read "The Affluent Society" by John Kenneth Galbraith. He argued that economics was not, as I had studied at school, a set of self-standing, inviolable, unchanging rules. Rather the rules are a complex product of the cultural, economic, social and political context in which they are applied.
Galbraith identified what he described as the 'underclass' by which he did not mean the criminal classes: rather he meant individuals who undertake poorly paid work, live in bad housing, have poor health provision, poor working conditions, poor public transport, poor education etc. This underclass sustains the living styles of the affluent classes. Society has it within its power the resources to remove systems that produce this disparity: but chooses not to.
It was against this background that I came to support the political philosophy of democratic socialism. Many years later I found myself penniless, homeless, jobless and divorced. It was this experience that turned me towards reading the Christian bible: in particular to the teaching of Jesus. What I read resonated with my political opinions. So, my understanding of the message of Jesus reinforced my support for democratic socialism whilst at the same time I was understanding the message of Jesus through the lens of democratic socialism.
