Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There

by Rutger Bregman

Take bullying. Countries with big disparities in wealth also have more bullying behavior, because there are bigger status differences. Or, in Wilkinson’s terms, the “psychosocial consequences” are such that people living in unequal societies spend more time worrying about how others see them. This undercuts the quality of relationships (manifested in a distrust of strangers and status anxiety, for example). The resulting stress, in turn, is a major determinant of illness and chronic health problems. Okay – but shouldn’t we be more concerned with equal opportunities than with equal wealth? The fact is they both matter, and these two forms of inequality are inextricable. Just look at the global rankings: When inequality goes up, social mobility goes down. Frankly, there’s almost no country on Earth where the American Dream is less likely to come true than in the U.S. of A. Anybody eager to work their way up from rags to riches is better off trying their luck in Sweden, where people born into poverty can still hold out hope of a brighter future.21 Don’t get me wrong – inequality is not the only source of hardship. It’s one structural factor that feeds into the evolution of lots of social problems and is intricately linked to a constellation of other factors. And, in point of fact, society can’t function without some degree of inequality. There still need to be incentives to work, to endeavor, and to excel, and money is a very effective stimulus. Nobody would want to live in a...