Review of The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better
Do inequalities of wealth matter? Do the scale, scope, and particular distribution of poverty matter? To these questions, Wilkerson and Pickett respond with a categorical and resonant yes. An intriguing, often disturbing, and always captivating work, The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, advances a powerful political message. Among rich countries, the more unequal ones do worse according to almost every conceivable quality of life indicator. This suggests that, empirically speaking, "we have got close to the end of what economic growth can do for us" (p. 5) And it suggests further that we have reached the end of what politics as practiced currently can do for us as well. A politics focused primarily upon celebrating and rewarding production, output, efficiency, and a business oriented republic should probably give way to one favoring a greater focus on social justice and devising the ways and means necessary to advance more equitable distributions of the economic benefits and burdens of society. Support for these contentions is presented clearly, simply, and persuasively for the general public. The first part of the book is an empirical analysis comparing a number of quality of life indicators with income inequality across a range of economically advanced societies. The second part of the book suggests reasons for the findings, and the third reflects upon how the problems associated with relatively large income gaps might be alleviated. Data are taken from some 200 data sets, and the sources include the U.S. Census, the World Bank, the United Nations, and the World Health Organization. Twenty wealthy, economically developed countries are compared with reference to the data, as are the fifty American states. Tables and equations are nonexistent, graphs and numbers are nearly so. Inequality is measured by