June 27th Reading

Wilkinson, Richard G. and Kate Pickett. 2009. The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. Ch. 1 -3.

· In these three chapters Pickett and Wilkinson discuss how people are more stressed and have higher anxiety levels than in the 1950’s despite increased wealth. Many of these negative effects are caused by low self-esteem and human value being measured by status in society. Consequently, those ranked lower in society are prone to higher stress levels and medical issues. My question is, if disadvantaged citizens were given adequate resources equal to those who are in higher classes that enabled them to reach the same levels of mental and physical health, what would be the distinguishing factor between high and low income? If a society enabled all classes to have equal chances at promoting a long life, stress and anxiety levels would not disappear but concentrate in a different area (i.e. physical attributes/standards of beauty). This validates Wilkinson and Pickett’s argument that class differences have more consequences than poverty.