Want the Good Life? Your Neighbours Need It, TooYes! Magazine: New research shows that, among developed countries, the healthiest and happiest aren't those with the highest incomes but those with the most equality. British epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson... found that what the healthiest societies have in common is not that they have more... but that what they have is more equitably shared...
In his latest book, The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone, co-written with Kate Pickett, Wilkinson details the pernicious effects that inequality has on societies: eroding trust, increasing anxiety and illness, encouraging excessive consumption... Communities without large gaps between rich and poor are more resilient and their members live longer, happier lives.
Wilkinson: We looked at life expectancy, mental illness, teen birthrates, violence, the percent of populations in prison, and drug use. They were not just a little bit worse, but much worse, in more unequal countries... We know from the findings that it's the status divisions themselves that create the problems...
We quote a prison psychiatrist who spent 25 years talking to really violent men, and he says he has yet to see an act of violence which was not caused by people feeling disrespected, humiliated, or like they've lost face. Those are the triggers to violence, and they're more intense in more unequal societies, where status competition is intensified... We also found very big differences in the proportion of the population that's in prison... The differences aren't driven by the amount of crime, they're driven by the fact that people in unequal societies have more punitive attitudes...
It's not the inferior housing that gives you heart disease, it's the stress, the hopelessness, the anxiety, the depression you feel around that... Status competition causes problems all the way up... In more unequal countries, people are more likely to get into debt. They save less of their income and spend more. They work much longer hours... Inequality affects our ability to trust and our sense that we are part of a community...
Inequality is a reflection of how strong hierarchies are, how much we share or how much we don't. It shows us which part of our potential we're developing... In more equal societies, where there's a stronger community life, less violence, and more trust, people give a higher priority to the common good... Inequality changes our perceptions -- are you out for yourself, or do you recognize that we're in this together?
