Richard Wilkinson is professor of social epidemiology (that’s the distriThe Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone has caused quite a stir, because he believes he’s answered a very long-standing question. Why are we increasingly blighted by so many social problems when we’re materially better off than we’ve ever been? Tune in to find out the answer!
Image by Jonathan Melhuish. Used with permission.
BOOKS
Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone
WEBSITE
QUOTES
“People have misunderstood the importance of inequality for a long time. They’ve thought of it as mattering only if it creates poverty. People think poverty is the only thing that matters, but actually what inequality does is create feelings of superiority and inferiority – it strengthens the effects of ‘social hierarchy.’”
“People often talk about materialism as if it was a sort of basic human acquisitiveness, but actually it’s a very alienated form of social communication. How I get you to think I’m a successful person – a respectable person – is by the car I drive, where I live, the clothes I wear, and all that kind of thing.”
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