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The Spirit Level: Why Equality Is Better For Everyone

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In their socio-economic book, The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone, award winning Kate Pickett and partner Richard Wilkinson present a great focus on inequality, its effects and ways to make society a more equal one. With many data research methods and supporting data used, The Spirit Level reminds us that we live in a world of inequality and are oblivious to what it causes. Linking psychological aspects of humanity, the authors cause the readers to realise the harsh reality of the world we live in and how society’s thinking is shaped around the concept of consumerism and status competition. The beginning of the book captivates the reader by introducing statistics of different countries, showing how the national income level per person has an impact on life expectancy and happiness. Along with this information, a guide on how to read the graphs has also been included. Placing these statistics and guide at the beginning of the book …show more content…

What The Spirit Level forgets to take in account are other factors that contributes to the causes explained in each chapter, such as cultural and political, giving minimum information about how equality actually makes society better. It fails in supporting the title: ‘Why Equality is Better for Everyone’. The causes are strongly explained rather than how equality does make society better. The final aspect the authors fail to recognise is equality as a subjective matter. Its definition differs between people. In Gene Fellner’s book anarchist Alexander Berkman states “equality does not mean an equal amount but an equal amount”. With these downfalls to think about and the research included, The Spirit Level leaves a food for thought for the readers about if the world can ever be

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