The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone

Many of the conclusions of the professors of epidemiology Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett ("The Spirit Level - why Equality is Better for Everyone") are contradicted by work by Prof Saunders " Social Mobility and Truths". Why is this? There are certainly some issues that might concern the student trying to compare these sources. Firstly they all tend to ignore each other's work by not citing it! Then there is disagreement about measurements (should social mobility be measured by income mobility?). Then (D&P) produce very many graphs in which there is no metric on the X-axis other than "Low" and "High" for income inequality . I was astonished as this would usually get your student paper failed in any elementary academic course. In fact I think this is explicitly shown as misleading in that old gem "How to Lie with Statistics". ! (I do have postgraduate qualifications in epidemiology) . So if you want to form a post factual as opposed to ideological opinion on this complex topic I would check you are reasonably assured on statistical methods and honest about the areas of uncertainty.These are issues with substantial policy implications and deserve serious thought. You will not be well served if you do not listen to careful alternative views.

A thorough, rigorously evidence-based analysis of the manifold reasons why it would be wise for us to look to Scandinavia (and decidedly NOT to the USA) as our role-model for how a healthier society than the UK currently is could and should be constructed. The authors are not political philosophers or journalists, and are not grinding any particular party-political axes: their academic background is in epidemiology. However, their careful research into the links between levels of inequality and social/health/quality-of-life dysfunction, lead compellingly to the conclusion that anti-egalitarian policies, and ideologies such as neoliberalism, are aggressive social cancers, utterly destructive to the good of all humankind - including the rich.It clearly touched a nerve on first publication, since reactionary and polemical attempted ripostes were published virtually overnight (the same happened, I seem to remember, with The Myth of God Incarnate). I wouldn't bother with these: they are obviously bunkers built to shelter self-serving prejudice from evidence.This book is the zeitgeist. If you have ever wondered what the point is of having fifteen Ferraris if all the roads are full of potholes, or how it benefits the rich to be able to afford private healthcare once the destruction of the NHS has led to a sick society, their employees are off sick half the time with infectious diseases, and they have, despite all their wealth, to breathe the same air, then read this book, and do what you can to act upon its conclusions.

I discovered Richard Wilkinson's book 'Mind The Gap' nearly 2 decades ago, and absolutely loved it. I discovered Robert Sapolsky's book Why Zebras don't Get Stomach Ulcers at the same time as Mind The Gap, and reading both books convinced me to steer free of pharmaceutical 'fixes' and to try and address my lifestyle instead. So far it’s working and my GP gives similar advice to his other patients.I've been reading The Spirit Level in confinement (Covid-19), alongside Michael Booth's The Almost Nearly Perfect People (on Nordic countries) and Thomas Piketty's Le Capital (on neoliberalism). Both are great companion books to The Spirit Level. I also recommend the Equality Trust website, and, for French readers, the website of the Observatoire des Inegalites.The chapters which led to the biggest 'ha-ha' moments so far are chapters 4 and chapters 10. Chapter 4 discusses Community Life and Social Relations. I grew up surrounded by people who were very religious (some of them were Roman Catholic nuns and priests, and oblates): all the talk about 'bienveillance' (benevolence, kindness, goodwill) and 'amour du prochain' (Love Thy Neighbour) was just words, I’ve never seen it put into practice, rather the opposite. Not only did they exploit us, but they claimed they were right to do it, in the name of ‘survival of the fittest’. Bizarrely, at my Roman Catholic school, we were taught Creationnism instead of the official Biology syllabus, which included Evolutionary Biology, but in Economy classes, we were taught Social Darwinism, ‘survival of the fittest’, deregulation, low taxation etc.! Don’t ever expect Roman Catholics to be consistent… the principle of non-contradiction is not relevant for them as ‘Everything is possible for God!’ I also loved chapter 12 on Social Mobility: it describes all the subtle ways in which the ‘haves’ and their children will put down the ‘haves not’. I guess we wouldn’t have a Gilets Jaunes ‘jacquerie’ if the ‘elites’ treated us better.I really should have moved to Sweden when I was younger!

This is for the most part an interesting book which demonstrates almost beyond doubt that inequality is the cause of many ills - poor educational performance, lower life expectency, higher levels of teenage preganancy, higher rates of violence and much else is shown to be closely correlated and causual. The authors make a convincing argument, illustrated by numerous accessible graphics, and some great cartoons, which goes beyond promoting equality of opportunity into indicating that equality, or at least less inequality, of outcomes for people across and within states is desirable for the common good.The book is much less strong on what do about it - with the conclusions perhaps rather utopian and unrealistic. Cuba is held up as a positive example, and nationalisation is given a favourable nod. The idea of rising properity or that a rising river lifts all boats is not really explored and so the wellbeing of the people of rich countries is little compared with that of poor ones here.The countries here which come in for most criticism are the United States and the UK - yet both have to closely control the results of the desire of people around the world to move there.Interesting them - but probably not the whole picture.

This book has re-aligned my views completely. In case the title is misleading, the 'equality' is income equality (or inequality) and correlates to so many factors in our society - health outcomes, childhood literacy, obesity, teenage pregnancy etc.It shows how very unequal societies have much worse problems, even for the very rich. You just end up with the rich having to live in gated communities for security.Certainly, this is one of the most influential books I've ever read.