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The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger Hardcover – December 22, 2009
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The eye-opening and headline-generating UK bestseller that shows how one single factor―the gap between its richest and poorest members―can determine the health and well-being of a society.
"This is a book with a big idea, big enough to change political thinking…In half a page [The Spirit Level] tells you more about the pain of inequality than any play or novel could."―Sunday Times (UK )
It is well established that in rich societies the poor have shorter lives and suffer more from almost every social problem. Now a groundbreaking book, based on thirty years' research, takes an important step past this idea. The Spirit Level shows that there is one common factor that links the healthiest and happiest societies: the degree of equality among their members. Not wealth; not resources; not culture, climate, diet, or system of government. Furthermore, more-unequal societies are bad for almost everyone within them―the well-off as well as the poor.
The remarkable data assembled in The Spirit Level reveals striking differences, not only among the nations of the first world but even within America's fifty states. Almost every modern social problem―ill-health, violence, lack of community life, teen pregnancy, mental illness―is more likely to occur in a less-equal society. This is why America, by most measures the richest country on earth, has per capita shorter average lifespan, more cases of mental illness, more obesity, and more of its citizens in prison than any other developed nation.
Wilkinson and Pickett lay bare the contradiction between material success and social failure in today's world, but they do not simply provide a diagnosis of our woes. They offer readers a way toward a new political outlook, shifting from self-interested consumerism to a friendlier, more sustainable society. The Spirit Level is pioneering in its research, powerful in its revelations, and inspiring in its conclusion: Armed with this new understanding of why communities prosper, we have the tools to revitalize our politics and help all our fellow citizens, from the bottom of the ladder to the top.
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“A important book ... [Wilkinson and Pickett] argue that gross inequality tears at the human psyche, creating anxiety, distrust and an array of mental and physical ailments -- and they cite mountains of data to support their argument.” ―Nicholas Kristof, New York Times
“Wilkinson and Pickett make an eloquent case that the income gap between a nation's richest and poorest is the most powerful indicator of a functioning and healthy society…Felicitous prose and fascinating findings make this essential reading.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred)
“In this fascinating sociological study, the authors do an excellent job of presenting the research, analyzing nuances, and offering policy suggestions for creating more equal and sustainable societies. For all readers, specialized or not, with an interest in understanding the dynamics today between economic and social conditions.” ―Library Journal
“The Spirit Level will change the way you think about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, especially if you live in the United States. You will reexamine what it means to be successful, how you will seek and achieve personal satisfaction, and what you owe your fellow citizen.” ―Jo Perry, BookBrowse.com
“It has taken two experts from the field of public health to deliver a major study of the effects of inequality on society. Though Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett are British, their research explores the United States in depth, and their work is an important contribution to the debate our country needs.” ―Robert B. Reich, from the foreword
“Might be the most important book of the year.” ―Guardian
“Fascinating and deeply provoking…The Spirit Level does contain a powerful political message. It is impossible to read it and not to be impressed by how often greater equality appears to be the answer, whatever happens to be the question. It provides a connection between what otherwise look like disparate social problems.” ―David Runciman, London Review of Books
“This is a book with a big idea, big enough to change political thinking … In half a page [The Spirit Level] tells you more about the pain of inequality than any play or novel could.” ―John Carey, Sunday Times
“Epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett don't soft-soap their message. It is brave to write a book arguing that economies should stop growing when millions of jobs are being lost … we know there is something going wrong, and this book goes a long way towards explaining why … anyone who believes that society is the result of what we do, rather than who we are, should read The Spirit Level because of its unarguable battery of evidence, and because its conclusion is simple: we do better when we're equal.” ―Lynsey Hanley, Guardian
“A crucial contribution to the ideological argument. [The Spirit Level] demonstrates the scientific truth of the assertion that social democrats have made for a hundred years – sometimes more out of hope than intellectual certainty … Equality is not just a policy for the poor; it benefits us all and, therefore, should appeal to us all … The importance of The Spirit Level is that it provides a vital part of the intellectual manifesto on which the battle for a better society can be fought.” ―Roy Hattersley, New Statesman
“The connection [between income inequality and dysfunctional societies] is spelt out with stark clarity in Wilkinson and Pickett's remarkable new book. Income inequality, they show beyond any doubt, is not just bad for those at the bottom but for everyone.” ―Will Hutton, Observer
“Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett put forward compelling evidence that income inequalities are at the root of a wide range of health and social problems in society.” ―Niall Crowley, Irish Times Weekend Review
“Wilkinson and Pickett make a powerful argument as they pile on the charts linking inequality and society's problems.” ―Brian Clegg, BBC Focus
“[That Inequality causes social ills] is a sweeping claim, yet the evidence, here painstakingly marshaled, is hard to dispute.” ―Economist
“The Spirit Level reconciles the contradictory impulses the financial crisis creates [and] marshals voluminous evidence.” ―Guardian
“Many readers will be inspired as I am by a new book, The Spirit Level … Wilson and Pickett compare not only different countries, but also the 50 US states. They show that greater equality benefits not just the poor, but all occupational groups. [The Spirit Level has] lots of graphs but no jargon.” ―Peter Wilby, New Statesman
“[Wilkinson and Pickett] argue that, among the rich countries of the world, states with less inequality in incomes perform better on a wide range of indicators … The argument is a powerful counter to any simple equation of social progress and the advance of GDP.” ―John Kay, Financial Times
“A spruce, straightforward writing style is periodically illustrated with clear, easy-to-grasp graphs, presenting information from a wide array of sources … it is fascinating.” ―Stephen Price, Sunday Business Post Agenda
“Compelling and shocking. All free marketers should be made to memorize it from cover to cover.” ―Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Independent
About the Author
Richard Wilkinson has played a formative role in international research on inequality, and his work has been published in ten languages. He is professor emeritus at the University of Nottingham Medical School.
Kate Pickett is a senior lecturer at the University of York and a National Institute for Health Research Career Scientist. They live in North Yorkshire, England.
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBloomsbury Press
- Publication dateDecember 22, 2009
- Dimensions6.45 x 1.15 x 9.5 inches
- ISBN-109781608190362
- ISBN-13978-1608190362
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- ASIN : 1608190366
- Publisher : Bloomsbury Press; First Edition (December 22, 2009)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9781608190362
- ISBN-13 : 978-1608190362
- Item Weight : 1.25 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.45 x 1.15 x 9.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,447,809 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #351 in Income Inequality
- #1,008 in Government Social Policy
- #1,479 in Sociology of Class
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About the authors

Richard Wilkinson has played a formative role in international research and his work has been published in 10 languages. He studied economic history at the London School of Economics before training in epidemiology and is Professor Emeritus at the University of Nottingham Medical School and Honorary Professor at University College London. Kate Pickett is a Senior Lecturer at the University of York and a National Institute for Health Research Career Scientist. She studied physical anthropology at Cambridge, nutritional sciences at Cornell and epidemiology at Berkeley before spending four years as an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago.

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The premise or thesis of the book is quite simple: The disparity of wealth within countries, for the most part, explains why all kinds of things go wrong, or, more importantly, appear to be going wrong. The more the inequality, the more distrust there is among residents; thus, we have our perceived problems with health care, education, the number of people in prisons, immigration policies and more. The book includes charts to emphasize, if not prove, its thesis and advice.
The authors are a married couple from England. Both are professors associated with medicine and health care. A forward to the book is by American author Robert Reich.
An important part of the book comes in the form of its many graphs, which show how countries and/or states within countries compare on an X/Y graph of related statistics. For example, one chart compares the national per capita income vs. life expectancy amongst countries. Per the graph, Cuba, Chile and Costa Rica are amongst the countries with a relatively low per capita income and relatively high life-expectancy numbers. But despite being the country with the highest per capita income in the world, the U.S., on this same chart, is shown to be behind dozens of other countries for life expectancy. The beauty of the graphic presentations is to show statistics visually. It is a very effective technique, and an important contribution of the book.
Much less used, but still of importance are some cartoons. My favorite shows a guy in the back seat of a car being driven through what looks like a dilapidated part of a large city. Says the guy to his driver in the front seat,"I just got a $200,000 tax cut...I love this country!...But why is it such a DUMP?!"
The thesis of the book is stated several times, but none is better than the following: "The relationship between inequality and the prevalence of health and social problems...suggest that if the United States were to reduce its income inequality to something like the average of the four most equal of the rich countries (Japan, Norway, Sweden and Finland), the proportion of the population feeling they could trust others might rise by 75 per cent - presumably with matching improvements in the quality of community life; and of mental illness and obesity might similarly each be cut by almost two-thirds, teenage birth rates could be more than halved, prison populations might be reduced by 75 percent, and people could live longer, while working the equivalent of two months less per year."
While that is a mouthful, and it may seem, at first blush, simplistic, the book, I think, does an excellent job in convincing the reader that there is logic behind the thesis - and that progress in the quest for reduced inequality benefits everyone, from top to bottom.
Similar to the ideas of author Francis Fukuyama in his book, "The End of History, and The Last Man," the authors of this book say that "The populations of rich countries have gotten to the end of a long historical journey." Per the authors, "....as countries get richer, further increases in average living standards do less and less for health." And as great infectious diseases are eliminated, "we are left with the so-called diseases of affluence."
So which are the countries -- measured by how much richer are the top 20 percent vs. the bottom 20 percent -- are the most unequal? They are Singapore, the USA, Portugal and the UK, in that order. And the least unequal: Japan, Finland, Norway and Sweden. And how do these countries look on a graph of per capita income vs. an index of health and social problems? Japan is at the bottom left, with its combination of low income inequality and low rating on the index of health and social problems. At the top right is the USA, easily ahead of Portugal and the UK. (For some reason, Singapore is not on this graph.) The authors tell us that only the developed countries of the world were included in these graphs, for the most part, and that countries of less than about five million people were not included. (China and Russia are not included for reasons I did not find explained.)
When looking at a graph of U.S. states, income inequality and the index of health and social problems, the states of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana come out the worst both in income inequality and in health and social problems. Tucked into all this is the finding that the likelihood of breast cancer in women is not related to inequality. Also mentioned is that the issue of health inequality became a popular public health issue in the 1880s.
There are really three themes in this book. The first is to make the case of inequality of wealth and the related problems it creates. The second is to look at some of the details of the problems created. The third is to convince us that reducing inequality is worth the effort.
There is a chapter on rising anxiety and its effects brought about by inequality that introduces the part of the book called, "The Costs of Inequality." In this section, Hurricane Katrina is brought up as an example of the exposure of inequality in the New Orleans area. It is here that the authors introduce the essential element of trust: The more inequality there is in a country or state, the less trust there is amongst its residents. A chart shows that Singapore, Portugal and the U.S. rank highest in inequality and lowest in trust, while the opposite is true for Japan, Finland, Norway and Sweden. In the first group, Portugal is the worst, with 90% of its residents saying that "most people cannot be trusted." The U.S. comes in at a bit more than 60% with this view.
The authors point out some important benefits to trust:
* People with high levels of trust live longer
* They see others as co-operative rather than competitive
* They tend to believe in a common culture
* They tend to give more in charity in their country and in foreign aid
But as we move on in the book to the topic of mental illness, we're told that "one in four of (American) adults have been mentally ill in the past year." Huh? That would seem a bit high to me. But in a chart comparing income inequality and incidents of mental illness, the U.S. is out in the negative lead by far, with Japan on the other end, correlated with low numbers of incidences of mental illness coupled with a relatively low income inequality. A good point made in this section is that low social "status" is related to poor physical health.
An easy area to criticize the U.S. is in the area of health care spending vs. outcomes. The U.S., of course, spends far more than any other country, per capita, on health care. Yet, it ranks well behind most developed countries for the age of life-expectancy. In contrast, Japan comes in relatively low in its per capita spending, but it is the best in the world for life expectancy. In short, "more egalitarian societies tend to be healthier." As for U.S. states, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana have the most extreme correlations between income inequalities and life expectancies, while the state of Hawaii is the clear winner on the other end. The state of Minnesota comes in second to Hawaii in this regard. Both have relatively high life-expectancy numbers, while being relatively low in income inequality.
Obesity is another area for USA bashing. Per the book, three-quarters of us are now "overweight," with about one-third being technically "obese." In a chart on the subject, the U.S. is the clear winner in the correlation between the percentage of those obese and income equality. Japan is the clear winner on the other end. As for our states, Texas tops Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama in the percentage of those obese, with Colorado and Montana at the other end. Both charts show definite correlations between inequality and obesity. There are about a dozen pages in the book explaining the reasons that inequality causes people to be overweight and/or obese.
One of the interesting attributes of the charts is to not only show the highs and the lows, but to show the tendencies of correlation. The more plots there are on the graph along the resulting line, the more the correlation, and vice versa. Among all the charts in the book, which must be about 50, the one chart that seems to show the highest correlation, for whatever reason, appears to be with income inequality and the dropout rate in high schools. The higher the inequality, the higher the percentage of drop outs, pure and simple. Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama and Louisiana come out at the one end with the highest percentage and the most inequality, while Arkansas and Utah are at the other end.
Probably the most interesting chart to me is the one that compares inequality with the percentage of 15-year-olds who aspire to and/or are expecting low-skilled jobs. Here, the U.S. shows less than 15% of its youth with this aspiration, coupled with the highest income equality, and Japan on the other end with about 50% of its youth expecting to work in low-skilled labor. Japan, of course, has the lowest income inequality of the developed countries. Kids in France and Switzerland come in at about 40% with these expectations. Greece and Portugal come closest to the U.S., down at about 18%.
But I'm only about half way through the book at this point, so I'd better add some summary points:
* The U.S. has the highest percentage of teenage mothers, by far, with, you've got it, Japan on the other end, with Sweden, Denmark and Finland also in that area.
* The U.S. has the highest percentage of homicides, by far, with Japan on the other end. For some reason(s), Finland, with a very low income inequality has a relatively high percentage of homicides.
* Another chart with a relatively tight correlation line compares income inequality with prisoners per 100,000. The U.S. and Singapore are the clear winners at one end, with Japan, Finland, Norway and Sweden at the other. For U.S. states, it is Texas and Louisiana on top, with Minnesota and North Dakota at the other end.
The concluding section, entitled, "A Better Society," is where the authors make the pitch that reducing inequality is worth the effort, saying, "...the differences between more and less equal societies are large - problems are anything between three times to ten times as common in the more unequal societies." And the authors stress that the data clearly shows that "greater equality brings substantial gains even in the top occupational class and among the richest or best-educated quarter or third of the population...."
But any changes to be made clearly have to take into considerations the contradictions in human nature. We can be best friends or we can be highly competitive. Thomas Hobbes talked about this, once saying that the most important task of government is simply to keep the peace. Not mentioned in the book, as such, are the arguments about "equality" vs. "freedom." And there are those who believe in a "zero-sum game." But the authors point out that for more than 90% of our existence, we humans have lived in highly egalitarian societies. They say, without further explanation, that "Modern inequality arose and spread with the development of agriculture." Seems like a topic, in itself, for another book or two.
But the authors are not through. They make a case against consumerism run amuck. The say, "Greater equality gives us the crucial key to reducing the cultural pressure to consume....Growth is a substitute for equality of income....(but) greater equality makes growth much less necessary." The flip side of this is that "inequality ratchets up the competitive pressure to consume..., leading people to save less and consume more."
Per the authors, "We need to create more equal societies more able to meet our real social needs." And, per the authors, this effort is more likely to be a grass-roots movement than one via government. Maybe that is, in part, what the Occupy Movement is all about. But the authors point out that reducing inequality is not always a tax policy issue. They point out that Japan maintains low inequality without a highly progressive tax policy. And the argument for reduced inequality is not necessarily about larger governments. Nor is it necessarily about democratic vs. centralized, one-party governments.
The book points out and gives credit to advances that have been made in the past: the abolition of slavery, the development of public education and other public services, the enactments of Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance, laws for women's rights and protections against discriminations because of sexual orientation, religion, race or culture.
But there is obviously more to be done. In the midst of inequality that has risen over the past 40 years, in the U.S., the U.K. and many other developed countries, the authors tell us that "The initial task is to gain a widespread public understanding of what is at stake....We know that more egalitarian countries live well, with high living standards and much better social environments." The final sentence of the book reads, "The role of this book is to point out that greater equality is the material foundation on which better social relations are built."
But before we conclude, I'd like to point out one of the great discrepancies in the comparisons with income inequalities that is covered in the book. It comes in the area of recycling. On top of the heap for recycling are the countries with the most inequality: The U.S., Portugal and the U.K. At the other end is our friend Japan, with Sweden right alongside. Figure that one out.
And back to my premise that this is a very important book, I feel that this is a book that complements other very good books I have read and reviewed: "The End of Poverty," "The End of History and The Last Man," "Supercapitalism," "Screwed," "The World is Flat", "The End of Work" and others.
Finally, if you want more about the movement to reduce inequality, take a look at the website suggested by the book: [...]
The Spirit Level is a very analytical approach to the topic of income inequality that is presented in an understandable format. The first couple chapters set the scene in describing the difference between wealth and inequality and how our success in getting things may actually be setting up cultural failure. Some of the points are key insights to human behavior. Pages 36-37 are very fascinating in describing the evolution of self-esteem. We now have a population of people who put off great self-esteem but not because they are accomplished or talented. Rather, these seemingly confident individuals continue to tell themselves they are right about everything and in turn are the most racist, violent and insensitive people in our culture.
By this same token, many people today measure success only as in comparison to others. They must continually show to themselves and others that they have more than most of those around them. This promotes a cultural values system that leads to great inequality. The majority of the book then goes on to detail all the negative social consequences that seem to come as a result of inequality. Countries are listed in accordance to their level of inequality. Beyond that, the book lists each of the 50 American states according to the same criteria. Each chapter is then dedicated to a social problem everyone would agree is a cultural negative (violence, mental illness, obesity, teenage pregnancies and poor education). Research results are given on each topic that show with amazing consistency how inequality (whether in a country or state) causes more of the negative social reality. These parallels hold true whether the country (or state) is rich or poor. It is simply the level of inequality that seems to make the condition worse.
The final chapters then give some suggestions toward correcting this disparity. One of these was a solution to global warming in which everyone is given credits for waste or pollution allocation. Poorer people who are then not going to use all of theirs could sell them to richer people who want/need more to meet their standard of living. This would be a voluntary redistribution of wealth that would work to correct multiple social wrongs. Another option outlined was the idea of bringing democracy to the workplace in a way more similar to our political system in America. In our country, everyone gets one vote for our politicians, but if money is how we vote in the marketplace, then those who have less money aren’t able to have their votes be heard.
The book contains much more than I could describe here and goes into greater detail on the subjects in which I did mention. I will say that I was curious and possibly skeptical going in. The book has made me more aware, though, of the crippling effect of poverty and inequality even within my own southern community. If there were five books I could force everyone in the world to read, this would be one of them.
Top reviews from other countries
英国の格差問題に取り組む、「The Equality Trust」の2人の疫学専門家が執筆した本です。
格差がない社会、みなが平等(Equal)である社会がよりよいことを9つの指標(互いを信頼できるか、平均寿命、肥満、Social mobility:社会的階級の移動しやすさ、等)を用いて示しています。
少々ネタバレですが、調査した20国あまりの国で最も格差がないのが日本でした。
9つの指標を統合して複合的なOutcomeとした場合に、もっとも成績がよいのも日本でした。
以下、レビュー・・・というより感想文としてお読みいただければ。
全体として内容に納得できるところが多く、平等な社会がいいということもよくわかり、理論もよかったと思います。やや強気すぎる書き方ですが、言っていることには大方頷けるので、高評価である理由もわかります。ただ、以下の理由で星3つです。
1.英語が読みにくい
自分は英語圏で生活していた年数が長いので、あまり読書に苦労することもありませんでしたが、本書の英語は読みにくかったです。文章が長く、句読点の位置があまり効果的でなく、同じことを訴える文章が多いので、特にPart2以降は読みにくいと感じてしまいました。(やはり自分の能力がないだけかもしれませんが・・・)
2.Equalityがよいのは分かるけど、日本人にはピンとこない
格差の大きいUKやUSAの読者にとっては、力強いメッセージだったのではないかなと思いますが、日本の社会に慣れている人にはピンとこない内容も多いと感じました。どの章でも暗に「日本はいい国だ」ということを示唆しているところも多く、ちょっと誇らしく思う反面、提示された9つの指標だけで「Better」だというのはちょっと強引でやや単純だなと思ってしまいます。たとえば日本の超高齢化社会についてどう思っているのか、著者たちに聞いてみたいところです。
ほかにもツッコミたいところがありますが主なところだけ書いておきます。








