The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies StrongerGroundbreaking analysis showing that greater economic equality-not greater wealth-is the mark of the most successful societies, and offering new ways to achieve it. "Get your hands on this book."-Bill Moyers This groundbreaking book, based on thirty years' research, demonstrates that more unequal societies are bad for almost everyone within them-the well-off and the poor. The remarkable data the book lays out and the measures it uses are like a spirit level which we can hold up to compare different societies. The differences revealed, even between rich market democracies, are striking. Almost every modern social and environmental problem-ill health, lack of community life, violence, drugs, obesity, mental illness, long working hours, big prison populations-is more likely to occur in a less equal society. The book goes to the heart of the apparent contrast between material success and social failure in many modern national societies. The Spirit Level does not simply provide a diagnosis of our ills, but provides invaluable instruction in shifting the balance from self-interested consumerism to a friendlier, more collaborative society. It shows a way out of the social and environmental problems which beset us, and opens up a major new approach to improving the real quality of life, not just for the poor but for everyone. It is, in its conclusion, an optimistic book, which should revitalize politics and provide a new way of thinking about how we organize human communities. |
Contents
| 3 | |
3 | 31 |
Community life and social relations | 49 |
Mental health and drug | 63 |
Physical health and life expectancy | 73 |
wider income gaps wider waists | 89 |
Educational performance | 103 |
recycling deprivation | 123 |
Imprisonment and punishment | 145 |
unequal opportunities | 157 |
Dysfunctional societies | 173 |
Our social inheritance | 195 |
Equality and sustainability | 215 |
Building the future | 229 |
Appendix | 267 |
| 299 | |
Other editions - View all
The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger Richard Wilkinson,Kate Pickett Limited preview - 2011 |
The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger Richard Wilkinson,Kate Pickett Limited preview - 2009 |
The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger Richard Wilkinson,Kate Pickett No preview available - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
adults American anxiety Australia average babies behaviour Belgium benefits body mass index bonobos Canada cent changes Chapter child companies cortisol crime death rates developed countries disease drug effects egalitarian employees equal countries equal societies ethnic evidence expectancy experience feel Finland global warming graph greater equality groups health and social High Income inequality higher homicide rates human important imprisonment income differences income inequality Income inequality Figure increased Index Japan Journal less levels of trust living standards London look low social status measures mental health mental illness Netherlands Norway obesity overweight parents people’s policies poor population Portugal poverty pregnancy prison related to inequality relationship rich countries rise shows social capital social class social gradient social mobility social problems stress studies Survey Sweden teenage birth rates teenage pregnancy trends unequal countries unequal societies UNICEF USA High violence wellbeing women women’s status Zealand