The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson
Groundbreaking analysis showing that greater economic equality-not greater wealth-is the mark of the most successful societies, and offering new ways to achieve it.
"Get your hands on this book."-Bill Moyers
This groundbreaking book, based on thirty years' research, demonstrates that more unequal societies are bad for almost everyone within them-the well-off and the poor. The remarkable data the book lays out and the measures it uses are like a spirit level which we can hold up to compare different societies. The differences revealed, even between rich market democracies, are striking. Almost every modern social and environmental problem-ill health, lack of community life, violence, drugs, obesity, mental illness, long working hours, big prison populations-is more likely to occur in a less equal society. The book goes to the heart of the apparent contrast between material success and social failure in many modern national societies.
The Spirit Level does not simply provide a diagnosis of our ills, but provides invaluable instruction in shifting the balance from self-interested consumerism to a friendlier, more collaborative society. It shows a way out of the social and environmental problems which beset us, and opens up a major new approach to improving the real quality of life, not just for the poor but for everyone. It is, in its conclusion, an optimistic book, which should revitalize politics and provide a new way of thinking about how we organize human communities.
Kate Pickett is Professor of Epidemiology, Research Champion for Justice and Equality and Deputy Director of the Centre for Future Health at the University of York. She studied physical anthropology at Cambridge, nutritional sciences at Cornell and epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Wilkinson and Pickett's work on The Spirit Level was shortlisted for Research Project of the Year 2009 by the Times Higher Education Supplement, and it was chosen as one of the Top Ten Books of the Decade by the New Statesman. Together, they founded the Equality Trust, which seeks to promote public understanding of the effects of inequality.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781608193417 |
| ISBN 10 | 1608193411 |
| Title | The Spirit Level |
| Author | Richard Wilkinson |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing Plc |
| Year published | 2011-05-03 |
| Number of pages | 400 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |