{"id":79799,"date":"2022-09-19T15:24:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T19:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=79799"},"modified":"2022-09-29T11:35:50","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T15:35:50","slug":"human-rights-statistics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-rights-statistics\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Rights Statistics: Why There’s a Good Reason for Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is there progress in the arena of human rights? Are bigoted attitudes on the decline in the world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Steven Pinker’s argument that humanity is advancing rather than worsening, he includes some hope-inspiring human rights statistics. He specifically considers racism, sexism, and homophobia to be the biggest contributors to human rights abuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to discover why Pinker believes that we should acknowledge the great advances the world has made in these areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Human Rights Statistics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Racist, sexist, and homophobic attitudes: <\/strong>In his presentation of human rights statistics, Pinker provides data from the Pew Research Center on racist, sexist, and homophobic opinions that shows those have all steadily declined in the U.S. from 1985-2015, and they are far more likely to be associated with the oldest generation. He shows us that hate crimes also have declined, and he says that, while there were upticks during the Trump presidency, that\u2019s not indicative of an overall trend. (Shortform note: Racism isn\u2019t only about bigoted attitudes. It\u2019s built into the structure of society. Systemic racism<\/a><\/em> includes inequalities and discrimination that are part of social institutions. For example, discriminatory practices in hiring, housing, and policing result in large-scale social disadvantages for some groups as compared to others.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s rights: <\/strong>Pinker shows that women around the world have increasingly gained more rights, freedom, education, and economic security. He points out that in 1900, only one <\/em>country allowed women to vote\u2014New Zealand. Today, women can vote in every<\/em> country that men can, except one\u2014Vatican City. This supports Pinker\u2019s claim that religion is one of the major barriers to Enlightenment values<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gay rights:<\/strong> Pinker points out that homosexuality used to be considered a crime in almost every country in the world. He says the first suggestion that sex between consenting adults should not be legislated came from European Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire, and some countries began revising their laws shortly thereafter. The statistics Pinker presents show that as of 2015, around 90% of the world\u2019s countries have decriminalized homosexuality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liberalization: <\/strong>Pinker says that when we look at the overall trends, we see that the world is becoming increasingly liberal. He defines liberal values as \u201cemancipatory\u201d values that encourage personal freedom and autonomy, individuality, and creativity over authority, conformity, and discipline. He points out that there are still gaps between regions, but all <\/em>world regions are becoming more liberal over time. He argues that, when we look at correlations between liberalization and other social features, we see that more liberal countries correlate with: <\/p>\n\n\n\n