The Impact of Inequality: How to Make Sick Societies Healthier (Hardcover)

by Richard G. Wilkinson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Wilkinson's work is a powerful and provocative piece of scholarship. -- Lisa Berkman, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy, Harvard School of Public Health

[A] brave and well-reasoned book. -- Jim Lardner, director and founder of Inequality.org

[A] wonderful work of synthesis....It is a stimulating and exciting book. -- Sir Michael Marmot, author of The Status Syndrome

Product Description
Why does the United States, the richest country in the world, rank twenty-fifth in international life expectancy? Pioneering epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson demonstrates that inequality is socially corrosive and affects health because the quality of social relations is crucial to well-being. The poor health performance of the United States, its high rates of violence, and its low social capital all reflect how societal relations are strained to the breaking point by record levels of inequality.

In wealthy countries, health is not simply a matter of how material circumstances determine your quality of life and access to health care; it is how your social standing makes you feel. The Impact of Inequality explains why low social status—being devalued and looked down on—is so stressful and can have devastating effects on people's lives and communities. Comparing the United States with other market democracies and one state with another, this book shows why more unequal societies have poorer communal environments, and why the whole social spectrum suffers everything from higher levels of violence to more widespread depression.

The Impact of Inequality presents a radical theory of the psychosocial impact of class stratification, with particular emphasis on health and the quality of societal relations. It addresses people's experience of class and inequality and the pervasive sense that modern societies, despite material success, are social failures. At the same time, it shows that even small reductions in inequality matter, compelling us to pursue greater social and political equality to improve life for everyone.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: New Press; 1 edition (January 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565849256
• ISBN-13: 978-1565849259
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #938,240 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars change go'n come, February 9, 2005

By	anon (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

The best book I've read on what is wrong with U.S. exactly. Unfortunately I have no hope that we'll try to change the present situation and create a society that reflects the actual material prosperity of this nation instead of first world nation of third world conditions.

3 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Needed it for my class..., May 6, 2007

By	MJB "MJB" (Seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Impact of Inequality: How to Make Sick Societies Healthier (Paperback)

and so glad I read it! However, it would be helpful to read the other side of the story...