The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies StrongerThis 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. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - EmreSevinc - LibraryThingThe evidence and argumentation is strong in this one. The core idea is simple and powerful, it reveals itself in many aspects of many different societies with very different institutional systems. The ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - the.ken.petersen - LibraryThingI have heard people raving about this book for some time. I did not bother to read it because I felt that I already knew that equality was better than the alternative and that reading another ... Read full review
Contents
3 | |
Poverty or inequality? | 15 |
How inequality gets under the skin | 31 |
Community life and social relations | 49 |
Mental health and drug use | 63 |
15 | 67 |
Physical health and life expectancy | 73 |
wider income gaps wider waists | 89 |
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 - 2009 |
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adult American Australia Austria average babies become behaviour Belgium benefits bonobos cent Chapter common cortisol crime CT MA MT death rates Denmark described developed countries disease drug economic equal countries equal societies ethnic expectancy experience feel Finland global warming graph greater equality Greece groups health and social higher homicide rates human ID NE IA important income differences Income inequality Figure increased Italy Japan less levels of trust look Low High low social status lower mental illness MO IL neighbourhoods Netherlands NJ RI CT Norway obesity OK NC MO overweight parents people’s policies poor population Portugal poverty prison related to inequality rich countries rise SC WV FL scores shows social capital social class social gradient social mobility social problems stress studies Sweden teenage birth rates teenage mothers thrifty phenotype trends TX KY TN unequal countries unequal societies violence wellbeing women young Zealand