The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone

by Richard G. Wilkinson

As voters, we have lost sight of any collective belief that society could be different. Instead of a better society, the only thing almost everyone strives for is to better their own position – as individuals – within the existing society.

But the truth is that both the broken society and the broken economy resulted from the growth of inequality.

Economic growth, for so long the great engine of progress, has, in the rich countries, largely finished its work. Not only have measures of wellbeing and happiness ceased to rise with economic growth but, as affluent societies have grown richer, there have been long‐term rises in rates of anxiety, depression and numerous other social problems.

As Adam Smith emphasized, it is important to be able to present oneself creditably in society without the shame and stigma of apparent poverty.

Department of Surgery at Columbia University calculated that black men in Harlem were less likely to reach the age of 65 than men in Bangladesh.80

A member of a Hispanic street gang eats all his meals at fast‐food restaurants, boasting that he hasn’t eaten a meal at home since he was 16: Kids here don’t want to eat their mother’s food … everyone is tired of their mother’s food – rice and beans over and over. I wanted to live the life of a man. Fast food gets you status and respect.

The emotional make‐up which prepares you to live in a society in which you have to fend for yourself, watch your back and fight for every bit you can get, is very different from what is needed if you grow up in a society in which (to take the opposite extreme) you depend on empathy, reciprocity and co‐operation, and in which your security depends on maintaining good relations with others.

process of people’s emancipation from the usual assumptions round class and ability which make those in more junior positions feel themselves to be inferior human beings. We discussed in Chapter 8 some of the experimental evidence using race and caste to show how attributions of inferior status can affect performance.