Several people asked me for my thoughts on Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett’s book, “The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger.” I’ve outsourced my thinking on the topic to Lane Kenworthy.
Several people asked me for my thoughts on Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett’s book, “The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger.” I’ve outsourced my thinking on the topic to Lane Kenworthy.
"I've outsourced my thinking on the topic to Lane Kenworthy."
As well you might, that was an excellent blog post.
Lane said "The United States has the most unequal income distribution among rich countries, but I’m not certain this results in it having more status competition than other countries. Some European nations with less income inequality have a long history of class divisions."
(Continuing in the spirit of generalising wildly…)
Places like England *had* (and still have but to a much lesser degree) a strong social gradient but they also had strong messages about not changing that
e.g. from the song "All Things Bright and Beautiful"
The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.
The idea that where you were born in the gradient was pre-ordained and you had to live your life within it i.e. no social competition for advancement.
In American there was/is the idea that anyone can have the "American Dream" if they work hard enough. That puts a lot of pressure on people to compete and compare. From getting into the right school, to getting the right job, to earning mega-money.
You only have to look at the way Donald Trump is kow-towed to, to realise that there is a huge social gradient. In the US failure is often (self-)peceived as a personal defect rather than, in some cases, just being chance.
Here is a similar graph from Gapminder (but over time and for more countries)
<a href="http://www.gapminder.org/world/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=5.59290322580644;ti=2000$zpv;v=1$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=pyj6tScZqmEcjeKHnZq6RIg;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj2tPLxKvvnNPA;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=8.21;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0XOoBL_n5tAQ;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=CATID0;by=grp$map_x;scale=lin;dataMin=19;dataMax=74$map_y;scale=lin;dataMin=12;dataMax=83$map_s;sma=49;smi=2.65$cd;bd=0$inds=" rel="nofollow"> <a href="http://;http://www.gapminder.org/world/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=5.59290322580644;ti=2000$zpv;v=1$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=pyj6tScZqmEcjeKHnZq6RIg;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj2tPLxKvvnNPA;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=8.21;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0XOoBL_n5tAQ;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=CATID0;by=grp$map_x;scale=lin;dataMin=19;dataMax=74$map_y;scale=lin;dataMin=12;dataMax=83$map_s;sma=49;smi=2.65$cd;bd=0$inds=” target=”_blank”>;http://www.gapminder.org/world/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=5.59290322580644;ti=2000$zpv;v=1$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=pyj6tScZqmEcjeKHnZq6RIg;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj2tPLxKvvnNPA;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=8.21;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0XOoBL_n5tAQ;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=CATID0;by=grp$map_x;scale=lin;dataMin=19;dataMax=74$map_y;scale=lin;dataMin=12;dataMax=83$map_s;sma=49;smi=2.65$cd;bd=0$inds=
(make sure you copy and paste the whole thing)
And Hans Roslings talk at TED
<a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html" rel="nofollow"> <a href="http://;http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html” target=”_blank”>;http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html
(ditto)