Diseases of The Rich–Spirit level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
The book argues that there are “pernicious effects that inequality has on societies: eroding trust, increasing anxiety and illness, (and) encouraging excessive consumption”. It claims that for each of eleven different health and social problems: physical health, mental health, drug abuse, education, imprisonment, obesity, social mobility, trust and community life, violence, teenage pregnancies, and child well-being, outcomes are significantly worse in more unequal rich countries.
Above is an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry about the book Spirit level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger.
The charts above come from the research data gathered and discussed in the book by authors and sociologists, Richard G. Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.The first chart shows the surprising results of global income gap analysis which was done by the researchers. Not surprisingly, we see countries like Japan, Finland and Norway leading the way with the most equality between the rich and poor. In other words, the richest 20% of Japan’s citizens are only 3.4% richer than the poorest 20%. WOW!
To the right of the chart are the countries which have the biggest gap between rich and poor. Not surprisingly, USA is next to last with the richest 20% making 8.5% more than the poorest 20%.
Now this is where the data gets extremely interesting. As the excerpt above states (and what the second chart depicts), the researchers begin to find that the countries with larger inequalities begin to experience increased health and social problems. The unusual thing is that in the countries with large income gaps, it’s not just the poor who suffer–which is what we would expect–the rich suffer just as much, if not more. In fact scientists and medical professionals have created a whole new category for this phenomenon which they call “diseases of the rich.”
I was turned on to this book via a teaching from Rob Bell at Mars Hill Bible Church. Rob brought up the book (and research) while teaching on Acts 2:44-45:
All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.
It seems the early Christians didn’t need scary data to tell them that what they owned was a precious gift and that, as Rob puts it, God wants all her children to have enough pizza.
Why are developing countries omitted from the list?