The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better by Richard G. Wilkinson

Aug 26, 2011 Trevor rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: social-theory, economics

There was a moment in Freakonomics where the authors say that the reason violent crime has dropped in America is that there are less people being born now into abject poverty and this is mostly due to access to abortion. When I first read this I thought it was a very interesting correlation. I was even prepared to accept it as probably an accurate description, a kind of ‘fact of life’. But let’s say the same thing in a somewhat less intellectually appealing style. “Bennett (former U.S. Secretary...more

49 likes · like · see review

Dec 21, 2009 Jeff rated it 2 of 5 stars

I would have liked the book more if the data sets presented were complete. In numerous graphs the critera is "more equal vs less equal" or "better vs worse" etc. This is not what I would consider rigorous presentation of the data. Additionally, when a graph did have a numerical scale it would not encompass the total bounds of possible values. For example instead of a graph being on a scale from 0% to 100%, it would instead be something like 20 to 60%, showing a much more drastic relationship tha...more

3 likes · like · see review

Sep 11, 2011 E rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: politics

I'm not wild about the title. I adore the subtitle.

Because "equality" covers it all. Unlike communism, socialism, feminism, civil rights, or human rights, "equality" demands the same result for everyone, while appealing to our modern, individualist obsessions with happiness and egoism. I don't know how many cynics will be converted by this book, but I'm convinced it's our best bet.

4 likes · like · see review

Nov 14, 2011 Paul marked it as assorted-rants-about-stuff

I can't read this at the moment because

a) I'm working on my own book called

BEING NICE IS GOOD : Why It Took Me 450 Closely Reasoned Pages to Say Something Bleeding Obvious - And What You Can Do To Stop Me Doing It Again

and

b) there will be a whole lot of Sweden in this book, which as you all know will cause a very bad reaction

6 likes · like · see review

Jun 16, 2010 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: politics

A pub quiz that asks you to name the world’s richest country seems too easy. The obvious answer – ‘the USA’ – is also the right one. It has an average income of more than $40,000 per head. But does this mean that the American dream has come true? What about if the question asked for the country with the greatest life expectancy? Or highest literacy rate? Or lowest number of infant deaths? Or lowest levels of mental illness? ‘The USA’ is not the right answer to any of these questions. But how can...more A pub quiz that asks you to name the world’s richest country seems too easy. The obvious answer – ‘the USA’ – is also the right one. It has an average income of more than $40,000 per head. But does this mean that the American dream has come true? What about if the question asked for the country with the greatest life expectancy? Or highest literacy rate? Or lowest number of infant deaths? Or lowest levels of mental illness? ‘The USA’ is not the right answer to any of these questions. But how can that be if it is the richest country in the world?

Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett have uncovered an unwelcome truth about being rich. It might be OK for the rich (though even this is debateable), but it’s no good for the ordinary citizens of an otherwise rich country, if the gap between them and the rich is too large. And this where the American dream falls apart: the country is rich, but far too few people share the riches. The gap between the rich and the poor – or the rich and the average – is bigger in the US than anywhere else.

What Wilkinson and Pickett do is to present the graphs in a different way. Instead of measuring progress against overall wealth, they measure it against the size of the gap between rich and poor. And – surprise, surprise – the USA turns out to have more in common with a lowly European country like Portugal than it does with Scandinavia and Japan. The Nordic countries limit the gap between the rich and poor through their taxes. In Japan, the gap is kept narrow by tradition – big Japanese corporations simply don’t pay their executives the exaggerated amounts paid in the US and – you guessed it – here in Britain.

Because we come out of it badly too. While not quite as badly off as the United States, we are worse off than most of our Northern European neighbours on a whole range of indicators, including infant deaths. And the reason appears to be the same – our inequality isn’t as bad as the USA or Portugal but it’s a lot worse than most other EU countries. Embarrassingly, the average Brit can expect to live as long as the average Cuban – because Cuba might be poorer but it is much more equal and (of course) also has a comprehensive, free health service.

This book covers such a range of factors – obesity, murders and even bullying (yes, we top the list!) – that it is surprising that housing is barely mentioned. Perhaps it would show Britain to be better off. No matter, the central message is the important one: societies that are more equal are better for everyone. There is hard evidence to prove it, and this book presents it in spade loads.
(less)

13 likes · like · see review

Jul 25, 2009 John added it

This book has two big ideas in one, both of which the authors provide data-driven support for:

1) Improving life in countries where national income per person is greater than $10 - $20K will not come from an increase in income. Which leads to this page 11 excerpt: "We are the first generation to have to find new answers to the question of how we can make further improvements to the real quality of human life. What should we turn to if not economic growth?"

2) The book's answer to its own question...more This book has two big ideas in one, both of which the authors provide data-driven support for:

1) Improving life in countries where national income per person is greater than $10 - $20K will not come from an increase in income. Which leads to this page 11 excerpt: "We are the first generation to have to find new answers to the question of how we can make further improvements to the real quality of human life. What should we turn to if not economic growth?"

2) The book's answer to its own question above: greater equality. This is the bulk of the book. It makes a detailed case that takes data from several countries and connects inequality with levels of trust, mental health and drug use, physical health, life expectancy, education, teen birth rates, violence, social mobility and incarceration rates. It leads up to this optimism (pg 261): "The relationships between inequality and the prevalence of health and social problems shown in earlier chapters suggest that if the United States was to reduce its income inequality to something like the average of the four most equal of the rich countries (Japan, Norway, Sweden and Finland), the proportion of the population feeling they could trust others might rise by 75 per cent -- presumably with matching improvements in the quality of community life; rates of mental illness and obesity might similarly each be cut by almost two-thirds, teenage birth rates could be more than halved, prison populations might be reduced by 75 per cent, and people could live longer while working the equivalent of two months less per year."

Some ideas about how to do this politically and socially are offered when they break away from the main purpose of the book, to diagnose and support the diagnosis.

I'm not 100% convinced that inequality causes things like low trust levels and so on. But if the data analysis is right, inequality is tightly linked to seemingly very disparate phenomena across grossly dissimilar cultures (Japan, Sweden, US, Singapore, and others). Because the problems studied would appear to be totally unrelated if it weren't for the one thing binding them, inequality, I remain quite receptive to the possibility that inequality causes them. Based on this book, I certainly do not doubt it.

One of the most interesting findings is that inequality hurts everybody in society, not just those at the bottom.

My other criticism is lack of rigor in the graphs. Labeling graph axes with "low" and "high" is unacceptable: there should be a number with its unit of measurement. Where are the r values for the linear fits? I understand that the book is for mass consumption and most people would be put off with too much of this stuff, but the authors could have put it in an appendix, I think.
P.S.: Stats are published on the book's website here.(less)

6 likes · like · see review

Apr 02, 2012 Tammy Thiele is currently reading it · review of another edition

Really interesting book with the potential to make us feel subversive and see the impact of inequality at the 'pinnacle of human material and technical achievement' at a time when we have lost a common cause and have become increasingly atomised -striving mainly for material gain as opposed to the creation of a better society.
Interesting measures of inequality are discussed including the Robin Hood Index which tell us what proportion of a society's income would have to be taken from the rich an...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 23, 2013 Mark Taylor rated it 4 of 5 stars

The first two sections of this book are excellent. They tee up the theory in the first section and then discuss that through a very detailed analysis of affected factors in the second section.

The one star reviews of this book seem hysterical in the extreme which also leads me to question their veracity. But picking through the rhetoric there are a few points being made;

<> No they don't. They picked the richest market democracies where data was available and whose populations were big enoug...more The first two sections of this book are excellent. They tee up the theory in the first section and then discuss that through a very detailed analysis of affected factors in the second section.

The one star reviews of this book seem hysterical in the extreme which also leads me to question their veracity. But picking through the rhetoric there are a few points being made;

<> No they don't. They picked the richest market democracies where data was available and whose populations were big enough not to be considered tax havens. That is stated clearly. And the whole point is that this is a study of rich democracies where the chase of GDP growth has reached a point of diminishing returns for the improvement of peoples quality of life. They suggest there is something more important now - equality.

<> This is a statement thrown around again and again. Somewhat pointlessly because its true! Of course it isn't. But also there is no causation without correlation. Correlation is used to shine a light on things that could be causation. And that's what this book does in section 2 in extraordinary detail. They question again and again the factors that are causing the problem. They cite and use hundreds of other studies and experiment.

<> Just not true. In fact the book demonstrates that in multiple ways and cites almost 200 hundred other studies that have shown that makes no difference. They even adjusted their numbers by looking at the numbers for whites only in America. It made no difference.

<> This is the most hysterical of the criticism thrown at the book. And implies that many of those doing so haven't read it. The authors say several times that the way you make a society more equal doesn't matter. Its the fact that it is equal that matters. They show that the highly-redistributive-large-government states like Sweden achieve the same as the small-non-distributive sates like Japan. Japan's state size is much the same as the US and couldn't be considered a socialist state in any way. So the equality argument could be taken up by the Tea Party. They could say they are aiming to reduce the size of the state because less prisons are needed, healthcare costs decline, violence goes down and all the state expenditure targeting those things just get smaller. How is that socialist?

So why did I give this only four stars?

The last two chapters of the book jarred for me and also unnecessarily added fuel to the fire that the authors do have a specific political agenda. There is a chapter on fixing global warming. While the inferences they make may be true it just felt like this should have been in another book. To include it here wasn't necessary and actually detracts from their argument if you want that argument to be heard by as many people and politicians as possible.

Similarly the chapter on possible solutions also seems unnecessary because there are so many. And those solutions, as stated above, can be completely different supported by opposing political parties. Their solution completely over emphasises employee owned companies and cooperatives. Might be one solution but again fuels the fire over their political bias and that just seems unnecessary. They should present the data and then leave the rest for others or for another book where they then examine all political responses in depth.

And finally I worry that there are no real longitudinal studies. Almost of the data is point-in-time comparison. Showing how this changes over time, how it alters with ethnicity changes and how life expectancy right now is related to equality earlier in those peoples lives, is all missing. There are some pieces of that included but just not enough. For this to be fully compelling it is necessary. And this maybe unfair to the authors because its really that the data isn't available rather than the fact they chose to ignore it.(less)

like · see review

Feb 24, 2013 Conor Mcvarnock rated it 5 of 5 stars

Excellent work, the conclusions are largely intuitive and certainly nothing that should be of any sort of surprise to most of us on the socialist left (except maybe all the stuff about Japan being up there with the Scandanavian Countries). The basic point made by the book is that after a certain point, how rich or developed a country is doesn't matter after a certain point, its the level of inequality that is the decisive factor on a range of issues, levels of obesity, mental illness, heart dise...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 01, 2012 Kenneth Mugi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: awesome, non-fiction, social-justice, economic-theory

NOTE: For sake of brevity, I will refer to the book as 'The Spirit Level' throughout the review.

SUMMARY

The Spirit Level is an engaging and easy to read non-fiction book that explores the correlation between inequality and multiple social ills plaguing today's modern societies. Kate and Richard use simple to read graphs and lead the reader through a variety of potential analysis before explaining why they have interpreted the data their way. They also provide several potential solutions to the in...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 20, 2012 Arbs added it

For once, refreshing statistics to prove what we all already intuitively or by studying Economics or Politics know; that our societies are not equal, because equality of opportunity is not a fact, because is a myth of capitalism that the best succeed on a free market when our lives are so mediated by our upbringing and the opportunities we have or not have, our health and development, the networks we are born into and so many other hurdles.
If this was true, those that so strongly defend that fre...more

like · see review

Aug 27, 2011 Greg Curtis rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a fascinating book that turns the world of economics upsidedown, based on the insights of epidemiology. This is not an economics book. It is a book about a disease, inequality, and its effects on society. In the same way that epidemiologists can use their statistical analyses to investigate the course of a disease and find outcomes and sources, they can apply them to the general human condition, and link it back to the source, inequality. As an epidemiologist myself I found this fascinat...more This is a fascinating book that turns the world of economics upsidedown, based on the insights of epidemiology. This is not an economics book. It is a book about a disease, inequality, and its effects on society. In the same way that epidemiologists can use their statistical analyses to investigate the course of a disease and find outcomes and sources, they can apply them to the general human condition, and link it back to the source, inequality. As an epidemiologist myself I found this fascinating.

The key point in this book is not that greater wealth and / or greater poverty are the source of human suffering as many would believe, but rather that it is the gap between the rich and the poor that is most telling. Granted poverty is a disaster, but so it seems is inequality.

The idea behind this is that inequality feeds directly into a variety of social determinants of health and well being. Greater inequality leads to things such as rates of imprisonment, educational achievement, social cohesion, life expectency and so many more.

For me the most interesting part is relating the findings of this book to my own experience as a New Zealander, living through the last three decades where we have progressively moved from an egalitarian society to a moneytarist one, and seeing all of the ills the authors have linked to increasing inequality, happening here. I would imagine that for anyone else reading this book and living in one of the more developed countries in the world, the same will be true.

I applaud the authors of this book for their detailed analysis of a worldwide epidemic, and for having the courage to set it all down in book form. If there is a weakness in the book,it is simply that some of the data behind the conclusions is not adequately displayed, but having said that, this is a book for the majority of people to read. An extra twenty volumes of tables, statistical analyses and data would probably not add to the clarity of the message or change the findings.

I recommend that everyone, but most especially any budding economists, keep a copy of this book on their shelves as a reference work, and use it whenever they consider the advantages of any particular economic intervention.

(less)

1 like · like · see review

Jul 07, 2011 Dave Golombek rated it 4 of 5 stars

I managed to somehow agree with most of what the book said, while being constantly infuriated by how they presented it. The book gets 3 stars, the ideas in it get 5 stars.

First, the bad. The book is filled with graphs on which one or BOTH axes are labeled low to high, with no numbers. They don't get around to addressing the differences between correlation and causality until two-thirds of the way through the book. They don't include much in the way of policy suggestions or concrete ways to addr...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jan 21, 2011 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Just finished reading The Spirit Level and greatly appreciated the extensive endnotes and clarity with which this book was written. The authors methodically take the reader through their thinking chapter by chapter and support their argument that greater equality in society would lead to a better human experience for everyone - even the wealthy. Contrary to some beliefs, this book does not advocate the control of the government over businesses (authors said that was distinctly NOT the answer), r...more Just finished reading The Spirit Level and greatly appreciated the extensive endnotes and clarity with which this book was written. The authors methodically take the reader through their thinking chapter by chapter and support their argument that greater equality in society would lead to a better human experience for everyone - even the wealthy. Contrary to some beliefs, this book does not advocate the control of the government over businesses (authors said that was distinctly NOT the answer), reminds us that it is small businesses which generally are making the largest innovative contributions to society, that Thomas Paine was right regarding aristocracy. As a history teacher and someone who also loves science, I found this book to raise numerous thoughtful questions in which we all need to engage. Reminding me that Thomas Paine rejected the value of a landed aristocracy and connecting that thinking to questioning the value of the multi-national corporations was inspirational and insightful. Logical thinking, which as a student of anthropology I realize may be incorrect when discussing societies, does lead me to believe that having some persons holding enormous pots of wealth may not be the best way to encourage people to value society, family, friends or a sense of community, but rather would encourage people to watch over their shoulders and try to keep up with the values of high consumerism. Not buying into social hierarchies or consumerism would not bring about the collapse of the world, but rather would increase one's happiness in it. Time spent trying to acquire material goods would be spent with family, friends, community service, etc which are actions long understood and supported as ways to greatly increase one's happiness. Personal connections with others would reduce corruption and greed since it is far more difficult to rip off people with whom you associate on a regular basis (yes I know that Madoff did that, but he received all that press because of his unusually egregious antisocial actions) since you would have human connection and relationships that would discourage even the desire to rip off others. The "solution" of this book is to move in a direction of more employee owned businesses with less competitive social hierarchies - do not forget, humanity lived for many thousands of years in hunter gatherer societies and the importance of human connection has been bred into us (think some game theory studies). The authors address the increasingly challenging attempts to control and make money on intellectual/patented knowledge and raise some interesting questions as to where this is going - how will we make money on these products as the internet and global access to knowledge increases exponentially? We are being forced to create new economic strategies to address these concerns - so whether we like it or not, we will be forced to change and change is not something the majority of human beings embrace. I found one statement particularly fascinating and worthy of extensive thought: "An important ideological cost of the Cold War was that America gave up its historical commitment to equality." I have not decided whether or not that is true, partially true, but I believe this is a statement worth exploring - what has happened to our civil liberties over the past few decades? Are we more free or less free (some groups have obviously achieved more freedom yet overall what is today's current thinking - have we continued to move in a freer direction?) than a few decades ago? What has been the long-term impact of the Cold War on our equality psyche? At the end of the day however, I believe that everyone will agree that inequality costs - as a teacher, I see on a daily basis the long-term impacts of inequality, how much do prisons cost us, how much does violence cost us, how much does having "gated communities" cost us, how much does it cost us to have some people with so much money that they behave as if they are above the law (think financial institutions, the multi-national corporations that are impacting the governments of other nations, the financial turmoil that we repeatedly experience) - I say that these things cost all of us and that a more equal, community-based society would not be a utopian dream or perfection, but it would be a great improvement over the way life is now and is something we can achieve. This is not a "left" or "right" book - this is a book that is questioning our value structure, our way of life, how long is this way of life sustainable and successfully examines the consequences of inequality.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 15, 2010 T. Edmund rated it 5 of 5 stars

Despite sounding like a B-grade supernatural fantasy thriller, The Spirit Level is a non-fiction work that aggregates scientific evidence on societal equality. In a nutshell the point is: More equal societies do better, especially on outcomes that show hierarchical effects. (for example education level is predicted by income status, and thus overall educational achievement is predicted by that countries equality.

The book doesn’t begin as a total nightmare for those of right-wing persuasion howe...more

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 11, 2010 Georg rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, economics, sociology

Kate Picket and Richard Wilkinson's "The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better" explores the relationship between economic (in)equality and a variety of social issues, ranging from strength of community life to social mobility within societies. The authors' conclusion, antedated in the book's title, is that the more equal a given group is in economic terms, the better the overall quality of life is -- not only for the poorest within that groups, but even for the wealthie...more Kate Picket and Richard Wilkinson's "The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better" explores the relationship between economic (in)equality and a variety of social issues, ranging from strength of community life to social mobility within societies. The authors' conclusion, antedated in the book's title, is that the more equal a given group is in economic terms, the better the overall quality of life is -- not only for the poorest within that groups, but even for the wealthier fractions. In the last quarter of the book, several ways to achieve more equal societes are presented and advocated.

While there is not much to dispute in the basic data shown, and the authors' conclusions are undoubtful valid takes on the topic, I was nonetheless left with the feeling that the book's structure and overall setup leaves something to be desired. The by far biggest part of the book is a collection of data, describing how different societes fare in relation to the economic equality between their citizens. Taken from a variety of reputable sources and usually presented in simplified graphs described extensively -- unfortuately often very much simplified, and sometimes slightly condescendingly -- this information forms the base for the books arguments. In the way it is presented, though, it gets quite repetitive. I would have prefered to have parts of the graphs and especially the more obvious parts of their descriptions moved to an appendix-section or footnotes. In turn, more information on how the inequalities described came to be or changed, respectively, would have been welcome.

Additionally, parts of the conclusion in the book's last quarter could have been extended, especially those dealing with the apparent and/or factual discrepancies between aiming for a more economically equal society and the characteristics ascribed to market economies.

I am not sure whom this book tries to cater to: With the simplifications in the data-part and the relativly short conclusion, it is not of much interest to those wanting to get detailled information on the topic. On the other hand, the tedious way of presenting the data does most likely discourage many of the more "casual" readers.

All in all, the authors do nonetheless manage to convey the general idea of the link between economic relations and social issues, and -- in the very least -- have provided me, by ways of the extensive bibliography, with more ways to explore that topic.(less)

like · see review

Apr 05, 2010 Kara rated it 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to be able to give this book 5 stars simply because I believe that it is morally right for societies to have a small gap between rich and poor (and morally reprehensible that some of the most advanced nations, like the USA, have huge gaps between the haves and the have nots). All people have the right to the basic necessities of life -- in our modern societies that includes things like clean water to drink, fresh air to breathe, a high likelihood of survival into late adulthood, access...more I wanted to be able to give this book 5 stars simply because I believe that it is morally right for societies to have a small gap between rich and poor (and morally reprehensible that some of the most advanced nations, like the USA, have huge gaps between the haves and the have nots). All people have the right to the basic necessities of life -- in our modern societies that includes things like clean water to drink, fresh air to breathe, a high likelihood of survival into late adulthood, access to and an appreciation for quality education, the availability of healthy and fresh food, and adequate health care (especially preventative care with a regular doctor). While I believe that Pickett and Wilkinson, the epidemiologists who authored this book, have their facts correct and their hearts in the right place, this book simply preaches to the converted. Their own academic papers, and the ones they cite in this book, appear to be statistically rigorous, but this book is not. None of their graphs with best-fit lines have regression analyses, and many of the statistics they cite in the text lack any sort of significance tests. Perhaps they tried to keep things simple for the average reader; unfortunately, they over-simplified their arguments and thus failed to concisely or convincingly explain just why it is that societies whose citizens are more equal (have less disparate levels of monetary wealth) are more likely to have citizens who are live longer, healthier lives. In addition, the prose is often repetitive, that at times veers towards the condescending.
If it weren't for the last third of the book, which prompted me to think about what I can do to promote a more equal society -- how can I curtail conspicuous consumerism, why do I believe so strongly in the redistribution of wealth, who are the people that have the most power to change our society -- I would have given this book 2 stars. So, while I endorse the idea that societies with smaller differences between the rich and poor are better, I cannot recommend this book to those friends of mine who aren’t such ardent supporters of income redistribution. I can however, recommend that interested parties (and even those who don’t know if they are interested) visit the authors’ website: http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/ where they can learn the gist of the Spirit Level argument, view a PowerPoint summary of their research, and even join discussions and forums with those of us who are committed to alleviating the disparities between rich and poor.
(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Oct 29, 2009 Ed rated it 5 of 5 stars

An extraordinary compilation of data to show how catastrophically damaging to society, inequality is. And it effects every level. Life expectancy even for rich people is lower in less equal societies. And by more equal societies we are talking about perfectly economically viable, wealthy countries like Japan and Scandinavia. Of course none of this evidence will actually be looked at by conservative proponents of extreme inequality of the market has spoken sort. What is interesting about Japan is...more

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 17, 2012 Mike rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: economics, philosophy, politics

First off I am going to admit that I did not finish this book. This is exceptionally rare for me, especially with non-fiction. However, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett have produced a work of such little serious worth that I have been compelled to cease wading through its treacle-like flow for fear of the anger it brings on causing a heart attack.

Secondly, let me state plainly that I firmly believe that increased equality is advantageous to society in many, many ways. I think that an increase...more First off I am going to admit that I did not finish this book. This is exceptionally rare for me, especially with non-fiction. However, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett have produced a work of such little serious worth that I have been compelled to cease wading through its treacle-like flow for fear of the anger it brings on causing a heart attack.

Secondly, let me state plainly that I firmly believe that increased equality is advantageous to society in many, many ways. I think that an increased number of well educated, healthy people puts less of a burden on the state and pushes a society forward in terms of productivity and other measures of economic worth.

So, to the review. I should have known that when Wilkinson and Picket did not title their work 'Does Equality Make Societies Better', as a serious investigation would have, but rather plastered their biases all over the front cover, that the result would be poor.

Yet there is so much attempted good in here. The authors refuse to use their own measures, adopting only widely accepted scales. They draw evidence from a wide range of credible sources (the number of studies investigated is, frankly, staggering), and the work that they put in is worthy of much merit.

They appear, however, to have fallen into the giant hole that secondary school pupils are told about in their first science lessons (and which applies equally to 'the dismal science' of economics) - start out assuming nothing and having left your prejudices at the door. Allow me to provide quotes to back up my view.

"During the Second World War, for example, working class incomes rose by 9% while incomes of the middle class fell by 7%; rates of relative poverty were halved. The resulting sense of camaraderie and social cohesion not only led to better health - crime rates also fell." - at no point does it seem to cross the writers' minds to investigate whether working class incomes rose because thousands and thousands of men joined the army, or to ask whether this new-found 'camaraderie' was in fact linked to the burst of patriotism that accompanied the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and resulting conflict.

At another point the authors chose several graphs to aid a point they were trying to make about the idea that "Life expectancy is related to inequality in rich countries." The USA and UK have greater social inequality and lower life expectancy than Scandinavian nations and Japan. Would the healthy Japanese diet or active Scandinavian lifestyle not have anything to do with this? Not a word on the subject from Wilkinson and Pickett. The argument put forward on this point reminded me of the tale of the man who woke up one morning with his shoes on, suffering from a raging headache. He deduced that falling asleep without having removed one's footwear is bad for one's health, when in fact he should have realised that drinking a lot of alcohol can result in headaches and an inability to undo shoe laces or think about undressing before bed.

One more, to shuffle my tired point a little further along its path. The authors investigated mental health problems and their relation to inequality. They used many examples of what different psychologists, philosophers and economists have called 'status anxiety,' 'luxury fever,' and 'affluenza'. Apparently consumerism is to blame for mental health issues. By the time I got this far I was beginning to wonder when that great bogeyman 'consumerism' was going to have to take the fall for whatever ills the authors had discovered. Mental health issues have been around since time began, which is a small hole shot in this particular argumental boat; the vessel sinks altogether when we consider that many rich people are great consumers AND great sufferers from mental health issues - they can be confident, successful and wealthy, like buying things and STILL lack a vital chemical here or there which causes them undue sadness, depression or other mental ailment. The premise that the increase in products and related adjusted habits of the Western world is responsible for mental health crises is, at best, unproven. Few studies of undeveloped countries' issues and none of pre-consumer society exist for us to compare.

In conclusion I can only say that 'The Spirit Level' proved a disappointment to the point I reached. The authors clearly had their conclusion ready before they collated the evidence and failed to adequately question many of the findings to which they came. I regret that such an opportunity to rightly demonstrate that equality is good has been squandered, but squandered it has been and I can only compare the work of Wilkinson and Pickett to that of scientists who falsify climate change data to support their agenda - the result is quite the opposite.

This book has been saved from the dustbin of 1* only because nothing is as bad as Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road'.(less)

like · see review

Mar 01, 2013 Cassandra Silva rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, psychology-sociology

Equality is one of those things that is hard to define. This book takes a look at equality from a mostly financial perspective. It also explores the level of equality in opportunities, education and a few other levels.

First of all this book is fabulous. If you are a massive factoid type who loves seeing another way to look at adjoining facts this will be pure pleasure for you. (Please excuse the ridiculousness of some of the graphs that have been dumbed down however).

My only one wish for this...more

5 likes · like · see review

Donald Plugge I haven't read this book, in fact, I didn't even know about it until I read your reivew (thanks Goodreads). My first thought, however, is wow, that to...more
Mar 02, 2013 03:20pm

Cassandra Silva No I don't think it will to be honest. It's not a book that gets you to thinking about things from different aspects Enough. This was my main complain...more
Mar 06, 2013 02:38am

Aug 16, 2009 Mikko Karvonen rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone remotely interested in creating a better world

Shelves: non-fiction, all-time-favorites

In Spirit Level the authors sum up their life-long (up to thirty years) research on income unequality and the effects it has on the societies and well-being of people. They take on a number of social problems evident and rising in the developed world, from problems with physical and mental health, to the amount of violence and teen pregnancies, and using mainly statistical analysis point out their origin in the income unequality of the society and the lack of trust between people it generates.

Th...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 08, 2012 Lynley rated it 5 of 5 stars

I can't fault the premise of this book - that the most equal societies are the best for everyone at all levels of society. I'd already come to this conclusion after reading a whole bunch of feminist stuff, in which I have seen that societies in which women have the most power just happen to be the best for everyone, including men.

But this book highlights many of the less expected ways in which inequality of income benefits society. There are intuitive consequences of equality, like less incarcer...more

like · see review

May 28, 2012 Rosemary rated it 4 of 5 stars

The benefits of a more equal society and how to get there are spelled out very well in this good book. I wish all politicians had a copy, read it and acted upon it. The Scandinavians and Japan come out best on most scales, though the authors also compare states with in the US to back up their thesis. The US is sometimes so far out at the front of inequality that it is almost an outlier society. How sad. If we could make changes that helped to create more equality, it would be so good for our cou...more

like · see review

Apr 12, 2010 Joe rated it 5 of 5 stars

Very refreshing to read someone making the case for a more equal society and challenging the unexamined norms of economic disparity.

There are a few quibbles about some of the statistics, but this is something of a side issue. The evidence for the benefits of a more equal society is overwhelming. Most of the book is taken up with analysis of statistical data on various issues such as violence, obesity, educational outcomes, social mobility imprisonment etc. The last third is taken up with more o...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 16, 2010 William Hayes added it

Shelves: worth-reading

Nancy Mitford’s novel Love in a Cold Climate captures “the vanished world of aristocratic country life in England during the “time between the wars.” She deals satirically with both the behaviour and the beliefs of the upper class. An example of the former is their foolish avarice. Mitford very amusingly describes the inexplicably fretful behaviour of people who, to all intents and purposes, have in hand the wealth of the world:

"Perhaps they've lost all their money and are coming to live with us

...more

1 like · like · see review

Sep 21, 2011 James Perkins rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book argues that everybody should be equal for society to work properly, and offers, as the evidence for this, statistics from 23 rich countries around the world. The numbers seem to show that those countries with a smaller income gap between the poorest and richest have less social problems like crime, unemployment, teenage pregnancy, obesity, infant mortality, and homicide. Looking at positive features, the same countries appear to have more trust between strangers, higher life expectancy...more

like · see review

Jul 26, 2011 Gretchen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

This was definitely an interesting book. It is a research book about the effect of income inequality on all sorts of different things in society such as violence, mortality rates, health problems, levels of trust, etc. Basically, the research shows that in countries and in US states that have higher levels of income inequality, there are more problems in society - higher prison populations, lower education levels, higher violence, less trust, more health problems, etc. The authors show this effe...more

like · see review

Aug 30, 2012 Meepspeeps rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I wish I could buy every elected official a copy. This book contains extensive, long-term data from a public health perspective, no narrow agenda, to demonstrate that more equal societies (i.e. less of a gap between the richest and the poorest) benefit ALL levels in the society. They also show that more unequal states have the same problems within the state. Page 261, "if the USA was to reduce its income inequality to something like the average of the four most equal of the rich countries, the p...more

like · see review

Jan 05, 2010 Sharon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: political-science

Pickett and Wilkinson have put together a very interesting study of the results of income inequality on societies. They examined the wealthiest countries in the world, comparing the top and bottom 20 percent for income, as well as all 50 US states. What they found in their comparisons, which use data from WHO, the Centers for Disease Control and numerous other reputable scientific organizations, is that those societies where income inequality is greater have increased social problems across the...more

like · see review

Jun 19, 2012 Lisa Faye rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this book as it gave me some nice evidence for something that I had always thought to be true - equality is better for everyone. Most of the book was a little proof heavy, which got a little old after awhile, but this is probably only for me as I already agreed with the authors premise from the start.

So my thoughts:
1. I want to move to either Finland or Costa Rica.
2. The authors keep telling me that since equality is better for everyone, we can use that to convince rich people t...more

like · see review

topics	posts	views	last activity
Should Wealth be Distrubuted?	6	16	Feb 06, 2012 02:07am
Should Wealth be Distrubuted?	1	4	Jan 17, 2012 05:33am

title link	preview: The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better
avg rating	preview: The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better Goodreads rating: 4.07 (1261 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6304389-the-spirit-level?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347333651l/6304389.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6304389-the-spirit-level?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better by Richard G. Wilkinson[/url]

The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (19)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Richard G. Wilkinson

Books by Richard G. Wilkinson

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About The Spirit Level:...