Book Review: The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
by Richard G. Wilkinson and Kate E. Pickett
This book has stood the test of time, and after its original publication in 2009 it remains an active project with a current updated website at equalitytrust.org.uk. In presenting rigorous research, the authors Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett demonstrate across several domains that quality of life is secured more through social and economic equality than any accumulation of wealth beyond a simple comfortable existence. A key finding in this research is that wealthy people fare better as well as others in more equal societies, and that societal maladies affect all strata when inequality is artificially high—as it is in several developed countries, most notably in the US.
The details presented in this research are compelling. Wilkinson and Picket document through both statistical and anecdotal evidence how it is inequality—as distinguished from just comfortable life above subsistence—that affects the rates of murders, suicides, teen pregnancy, and prison population levels in any society worldwide. Inequality is also the main factor in the level of distrust, violence, illiteracy, and life expectancy across otherwise divergent societies—the authors point out that those with extreme wealth are hardly exempt from these effects.
The solutions that Wilkinson and Picket suggest appear to center on a common theme: the establishment of cooperative relationships with common aims for improved quality of life. The concept of an Ownership Society touted by George W. Bush comes to mind—except this would be effected in actuality instead of just as a fig leaf for neoliberal chicanery. The authors provide as examples of successful implementation the use of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), most notably those in which employees have a meaningful say in company operations—the empowerment of employees and the communities they live in has proven to be a sure way to ensure that people are well off to begin with, greatly reducing the need for redistribution.
To achieve the needed level of equality, it is necessary to counter the strong winds of right wing cult messaging emanating from a billionaire funded ecosystem of think tanks, educational institutions, lobbying entities, and broadcast and social media outlets, which pushes failed free market ideology and distorts the sense of reality for the millions of people caught in its web of lies. Although reversing the effects of this harmful disinformation is a tall order, we can achieve it through promoting powerful corrective information in both the cognitive and emotional realms of the public. That will establish and maintain popular will for rebuilding what’s been torn down, and open the way to take action on the recommendations both in this book and at equalitytrust.org.uk. This is the way we can fight for the changes needed to make life optimal for everyone—including the wealthy.