How More Equal Societies Reduce Stress, Restore Sanity and Improve Everyone's Well-being

The Inner Level

The essential new book from the authors of the international bestseller The Spirit Level 
 
'Why are people, particularly young people, experiencing increasing levels of mental illness and distress? Highly readable and authoritative, The Inner Level shows clearly how social anxieties and the problems they lead to rise steadily in richer, more unequal societies' Clare Short, The Tablet, Books of the Year 
 
Why is the incidence of mental illness in the UK twice that in Germany? Why are Americans three times more likely than the Dutch to develop gambling problems? Why is child well-being so much worse in New Zealand than Japan? As this groundbreaking study demonstrates, the answer to all these hinges on inequality. 
 
In The Spirit Level Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett put inequality at the centre of public debate 
by showing conclusively that less-equal societies fare worse than more equal ones across everything 
from education to life expectancy. The Inner Level now explains how inequality affects us individually, 
how it alters how we think, feel and behave. It sets out the overwhelming evidence that material 
inequalities have powerful psychological effects: when the gap between rich and poor increases, so does the tendency to defi ne and value ourselves and others in terms of superiority and inferiority. A deep well of data and analysis is drawn upon to empirically show, for example, that low social status is associated with elevated levels of stress, and how rates of anxiety and depression are intimately related to the inequality which makes that status paramount. 
 
Wilkinson and Pickett describe how these responses to hierarchies evolved, and why the impacts of 
inequality on us are so severe. In doing so, they challenge the conception that humans are innately 
competitive and self-interested. They undermine, too, the idea that inequality is the product of 'natural' differences in individual ability. This book sheds new light on many of the most urgent problems facing societies today, but it is not just an index of our ills. It demonstrates that societies based on fundamental equalities, sharing and reciprocity generate much higher levels of well-being, and lays out the path towards them.

The question of inequality is likely to play a bigger role in the next election than it has for more than a generation. It would be better for all of us if that debate was informed by robust statistical analysis rather than the emotive politics of envy. Any politician wishing to do so would be wise to read Wilkinson and Pickett's books.

It holds the reader's attention by elaborating a phenomenon most will already have observed, and by providing an explanation for the dysfunction they see around them, from the brazen disregard for rules among many corporate and political leaders to the nihilism of drug addicts and school-shooters

Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett's The Spirit Level, now published in more than twenty languages, has been one of the most influential non-fiction books published in the last decade, showing conclusively how less equal societies fare worse than more equal ones across a whole range of social measures - health, education, levels of violence, life expectancy and child wellbeing - and initiating the enormous public attention now given to the impacts of inequality. 
 
Based on an equally impressive range of data and analysis, The Inner Level now shows the impact inequality has on individuals: how it affects us psychologically, makes social relations more stressful, undermines self-confidence and distorts natural differences in personal abilities. It demonstrates that societies based on fundamental equalities, sharing and reciprocity produce much higher levels of wellbeing than those based on excessive individualism, competitiveness and social aggression. Like its predecessor, The Inner Level will transform ideas of how we should organise the way we live together.

Why Equality is Better for Everyone

The Spirit Level

Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett's The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone is the most influential and talked-about book on society in the last decade - now updated with a new chapter on the controversy the book has ignited. 
 
 Why do we mistrust people more in the UK than in Japan? Why do Americans have higher rates of teenage pregnancy than the French? What makes the Swedish thinner than the Australians? The answer: inequality. 
 
 This groundbreaking book, based on years of research, provides hard evidence to show: 
 
How almost everything - from life expectancy to mental illness, violence to illiteracy - is affected not by how wealthy a society is, but how equal it is 
That societies with a bigger gap between rich and poor are bad for everyone in them - including the well-off 
How we can find positive solutions and move towards a happier, fairer future 
 
 Urgent, provocative and genuinely uplifting, The Spirit Level has been heralded as providing a new way of thinking about ourselves and our communities, and could change the way you see the world. 
 
 'A big idea, big enough to change political thinking' - Guardian 
 
 'A remarkable new book ... the implications are profound' - Will Hutton, Observer 
 
 'The evidence is hard to dispute' - Economist 
 
Richard Wilkinson studied economic history at the London School of Economics before training in epidemiology and is Professor Emeritus at the University of Nottingham Medical School and Honorary Professor at University College London. 
 
Kate Pickett is a Professor of Epidemiology at the University of York and a National Institute for Health Research Career Scientist. Her work with Richard Wilkinson on The Spirit Level was shortlisted for Research Project of the Year 2009 by the Times Higher Education Supplement, and their book was chosen as one of the Top Ten Books of the Decade by the New Statesman.

Why do we mistrust people more in the UK than in Japan? Why do Americans have higher rates of teenage pregnancy than the French? What makes the Swedish thinner than the Greeks? The answer: inequality. 
 
This groundbreaking book, based on years of research, provides hard evidence to show: 
 
- How almost everything - from life expectancy to depression levels, violence to illiteracy - is affected not by how wealthy a society is, but how equal it is 
- That societies with a bigger gap between rich and poor are bad for everyone in them - including the well-off 
- How we can find positive solutions and move towards a happier, fairer future 
 
Urgent, provocative and genuinely uplifting, The Spirit Level has been heralded as providing a new way of thinking about ourselves and our communities, and could change the way you see the world.

Kate Pickett

It’s easy to despair at the state of society today. Drawing from evidence from across the world, The Good Society offers hope that the problems we face are not insurmountable - real, grounded hope in the form of practical, tried-and-tested solutions

Jonathan Aldred, author of License To Be Bad: How Economics Corrupted Us

This is what we need. A clear, hopeful roadmap that makes the case for how things can be better in achievable and realistic ways. If only we could be bold enough to follow it!

And How We Make It

A fairer, healthier, more caring and sustainable society is entirely within our grasp. This book shows us the way. 
 
How do we ensure that everyone has good health and is cared for when in need? 
How do we provide education that allows every child to flourish? 
How do we ensure safety, justice and a healthy environment now and for future generations? 
How can we finally solve the problems of poverty and inequality that drive all the others? 
 
Kate Pickett is one of the most renowned thinkers and leaders in social science. Her life’s work has been to identify the underlying causes behind society’s key challenges and how to solve them. 
 
In The Good Society she draws on the deepest insights and the strongest evidence produced by social science over the last three decades to present a roadmap for change. 
 
Ultimately, she shows that solving the fundamental problems of poverty and equality would enhance the quality of life for us all.

Kate Pickett

Praise for The Good Society

It’s easy to despair at the state of society today. Drawing from evidence from across the world, The Good Society offers hope that the problems we face are not insurmountable - real, grounded hope in the form ...

This is what we need. A clear, hopeful roadmap that makes the case for how things can be better in achievable and realistic ways. If only we could be bold enough to follow it!

Books by Kate Pickett

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