Read The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger Online

Authors: Richard Wilkinson,Kate Pickett

Tags: #Social Science, #Economics, #General, #Economic Conditions, #Political Science, #Business & Economics

The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger (46 page)

357
. Planet Ark,
The Recycling Olympic Report
. Sydney: Planet Ark Environmental Foundation, 2004.

358
. Vision of Humanity,
Global Peace Index: Methodology, results and findings
. Cammeray, NSW: Vision of Humanity, 2007.

359
. G. B. Shaw,
The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism
. Edison, N J: Transaction Publishers, 2007.

360
. M. Bloom, ‘The performance effects of pay dispersion on individuals and organizations’,
Academy of Management Journal
(1991) 42: 25–40.

361
. J. P. Mackenbach, ‘Socio-economic inequalities in health in Western Europe’, in J. Siegrist and M. Marmot (eds),
Social Inequalities in Health
. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

362
. OECD,
Social Expenditure – Aggregated Data
. Vol. 2008, OECD. Stat, 2001.

363
. Tax Foundation,
State and Local Tax Burdens Compared to Other US States, 1970–2007
. Washington, DC: Tax Foundation, 2007.

364
. Justice Policy Institute,
Cellblocks or Classrooms?
Washington, DC: Justice Policy Institute, 2002.

365
. L. J. Schweinhart and D. P. Weikart, ‘Success by empowerment: the High/Scope Perry Preschool Study through age 27’,
Young Children
(1993) 49: 54–8.

366
. World Bank,
The East Asian Miracle
. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.

367
. J. M. Page, ‘The East Asian miracle: an introduction’,
World Development
(1994) 22 (4): 615–25.

368
. R. M. Titmuss, ‘War and social policy’, in R. M. Titmuss (ed.),
Essays on the Welfare State
(3rd edition). London: Unwin, 1976.

369
. L. McCall and J. Brash,
What do Americans Think about Inequality
? Working Paper. New York: Demos, 2004.

370
. J. Weeks,
Inequality Trends in Some Developed OECD Countries
. Working Paper No. 6. New York: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2005.

371
. J. Benson, ‘A typology of Japanese enterprise unions’,
British Journal of Industrial Relations
(1996) 34: 371–86.

372
. L. Osberg and T. Smeeding, ‘“Fair” inequality? Attitudes to pay differentials: The United States in comparative perspective’,
American Sociological Review
(2006) 71: 450–73.

373
. J. Finch, ‘The boardroom bonanza’,
Guardian
, 29 August 2007.

374
. International Labour Organization, ‘Income inequalities in the age of financial globalization’,
World of Work Report 2008
. Geneva: ILO, 2008.

375
. Institute for Policy Studies,
Annual CEO Compensation Survey
. Washington, DC: Institute for Policy Studies, 2007.

376
. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, ‘Are transnationals bigger than countries?’ Press release: TAD/INF/PR/47. Geneva: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2002.

377
. T. Paine,
The Rights of Man
. London: Penguin, 1984.

378
. G. Alperovitz,
America beyond Capitalism
. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2004.

379
. W. Hutton. ‘Let’s get rid of our silly fears of public ownership’,
Observer
, 6 April 2008.

380
. M. J. Conyon and R. B. Freeman,
Shared Modes of Compensation and Firm Performance: UK Evidence
. NBER Working Paper W8448. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2001.

381
. A. Pendleton and C. Brewster, ‘Portfolio workforce’,
People Management
(2001) July: 38–40.

382
. G. Gates, ‘Holding your own: the case for employee capitalism’,
Demos Quarterly
(1996) 8: 8–10.

383
. P. M. Rooney, ‘Worker participation in employee owned firms’,
Journal of Economic Issues
(1988) XXII (2): 451–8.

384
. J. L. Cotton,
Employee Involvement: Methods for improving performance and work attitudes
. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1993.

385
. National Center for Employee Ownership,
Employee Ownership and Corporate Performance: A comprehensive review of the evidence
. Oakland, CA: National Center for Employee Ownership, 2004.

386
. J. Blasi, D. Kruse and A. Bernstein,
In the Company of Owners
. New York: Basic Books, 2003.

387
. P. A. Kardas, A. Scharf and J. Keogh,
Wealth and Income Consequences of Employee Ownership
. Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, 1998.

388
. R. Oakeshott,
Jobs and Fairness: The logic and experience of employee ownership
. Norwich: Michael Russell, 2000.

389
. M. Quarrey and C. Rosen, ‘How well is employee ownership working?’
Harvard Business Review
(1987) Sep.–Oct.: 126–32.

390
. T. Theorell, ‘Democracy at work and its relationship to health’, in P. Perrewe and D. E. Ganster (eds),
Emotional and Physiological Processes and Intervention Strategies: Research in occupational stress and well being
, Volume 3. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 2003.

391
. R. de Vogli, J. E. Ferrie, T. Chandola, M. Kivimaki and M. G. Marmot, ‘Unfairness and health: evidence from the Whitehall II Study’,
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
(2007) 61 (6): 513–18.

392
. D. Erdal,
Local Heroes
. London: Viking, 2008.

393
. D. Erdal, ‘The Psychology of Sharing: An evolutionary approach’. Unpublished PhD thesis, St Andrews, 2000.

394
. S. Milgram,
Obedience to Authority
. New York: Harper, 1969.

395
. L. T. Hobhouse,
Liberalism
. London: Williams & Norgate, 1911.

396
. D. Coyle,
The Weightless World
. Oxford: Capstone, 1997.

The Equality Trust

If reading this book leaves you wanting to do something to help reduce inequality, then please visit The Equality Trust web site at
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
. There you will find downloadable slides which we hope you will use, a downloadable lecture on DVD, short summaries of the evidence, answers to frequently asked questions, and suggestions for campaigning.

Having discovered how seriously societies are damaged by great inequality we felt we had to do what we could to make the evidence better known. The Trust was set up as a not-for-profit organization to educate and campaign on the benefits of a more equal society. Its work depends on donations from individuals and organizations sharing our vision.

We hope you will sign the Equality Charter, put your name down to receive the newsletter, make a donation, give us your ideas and join or form a local equality group. Most of all we hope you will use the evidence we have started to put together to spread the word and convince others of the need to reduce inequality. In politics, words are action.

The Equality Trust is not a large organization able to implement policies, run campaigns and orchestrate things on your behalf. Instead it aims to make people better informed and provide resources to stimulate and strengthen their own political and educational activities – whether through talking to friends and colleagues, passing on our web address, writing blogs, local campaigning, sending letters to newspapers and politicians, or raising the issues in the mass media.

Our aim is to create a groundswell of opinion in favour of great equality. Without that politicians can do very little. Egalitarian sentiments are hidden close to the hearts of vast numbers of people of all shades of political opinion. Most people know how much we sacrifice to consumerism and know that there are few things nicer than relaxing with friends and equals. They also know that it is family, friends and community that matter to happiness and know that our present way of life is ruining the planet. The culture of the last few decades has reduced us to closet egalitarians: it is time we came out of the woodwork and set a course for sanity.

For our parents
Don and Marion Chapman
George and Mary Guillemard

Copyright © 2009 by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett
Foreword copyright 2010 by Robert B. Reich
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address
Bloomsbury Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

Published by Bloomsbury Press, New York

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Wilkinson, Richard G.
The spirit level : why greater equality makes societies stronger /
Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.—1st American ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60819-036-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Equality. 2. Social mobility. 3. Quality of life. 4. Social policy. I. Pickett, Kate. II. Title

HM821.W55 2009
306.01—dc22
2009030428

First published in Great Britain by Allen Lane, a division of the Penguin Group, in 2009
First published in the United States by Bloomsbury Press in 2010
This e-book edition published in 2010

E-book ISBN: 978-1-60819-170-3

www.bloomsburypress.com

Table of Contents

PART ONE Material Success, Social Failure

1 The end of an era

2 Poverty or inequality?

3 How inequality gets under the skin

PART TWO The Costs of Inequality