The Inner Level
How More Equal Societies Reduce Stress, Restore Sanity and Improve Everyone's Well-being
Published on 6. June 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-0-14-197539-9 (ISBN)
Description
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.
'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.
Reviews / Votes
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. -- Andrew Anthony * Observer * 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 * Economist *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 130 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
262 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-14-197539-9 (9780141975399)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Richard Wilkinson | Kate Pickett
The Inner Level
How More Equal Societies Reduce Stress, Restore Sanity and Improve Everyone's Well-being
E-Book
06/2018
1st Edition
Penguin Books Ltd
€9.49
Available for download
Persons
Richard Wilkinson has played a formative role in international research and his work has been published in ten languages. He 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 Professor of Epidemiology at the University of York, where she leads the Public Health & Society research group and is Director of the Born in Bradford Centre for Social Change. She is also an academic co-director of Health Equity North, and a Fellow of the RSA, the UK Faculty of Public Health and the Academy of Social Sciences.
Her landmark book, The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone, co-written with Richard Wilkinson, is an international bestseller and was chosen by the Guardian as one of the 100 most influential books of the century and by the New Statesman as a top ten book of the decade. It reshaped the debate on fairness, health and wellbeing. Their follow-up, The Inner Level, confirmed Kate's status as one of our most rigorous and compelling public thinkers. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the Guardian, Nature and New York Times; she has delivered more than 500 keynote speeches, including at the United Nations, the European Parliament and within UK government departments. She is the co-founder and patron of The Equality Trust. In 2023, Kate received an OBE for services to societal equality.
Her landmark book, The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone, co-written with Richard Wilkinson, is an international bestseller and was chosen by the Guardian as one of the 100 most influential books of the century and by the New Statesman as a top ten book of the decade. It reshaped the debate on fairness, health and wellbeing. Their follow-up, The Inner Level, confirmed Kate's status as one of our most rigorous and compelling public thinkers. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the Guardian, Nature and New York Times; she has delivered more than 500 keynote speeches, including at the United Nations, the European Parliament and within UK government departments. She is the co-founder and patron of The Equality Trust. In 2023, Kate received an OBE for services to societal equality.