This book systematically attacks (with graphs and interspersed humor) the exacerbation of every modern day social issue through its connection to income inequality. Although in the decade plus between its release and the present day the United States has not meaningfully improved the social situations within the book, the book remains a meaningful answer guide to our ongoing “empire in decay” situation.

good ideas, poor execution. the constant use of graphs with the same (unexplained) fuzzy axes indicated either a lack of the authors' understanding of statistics, or the assumption that readers would have no understanding. the authors actually state at one point that they did no data cleansing, and used the raw data "as-is", as if they saw this to be a good thing (any statistician or scientist worth their name will tell you that all data requires cleansing before analysis!) Still, there are some very intriguing thoughts here, including the weight of evidence showing that equal societies are healthier-by all standards-and for all citizens-not just the poorest.
the conclusion lets it down again,with a rose-tinted assumption that everything is made better by employee ownership of companies. while this would probably help, I was far from convinced that this would be the silver bullet as proposed by the authors.
overall, great food for thought, but feel far short of life-changing. ( )

Fantastic read, but very academic and heavy on the charts & graphs. Lefties will nod, righties will balk. The title says it all, book is just analysis. ( )

The evidence and argumentation is strong in this one. The core idea is simple and powerful, it reveals itself in many aspects of many different societies with very different institutional systems. The core idea is that humans long for better conditions, not only in the sense of absolute material conditions (so, please stop repeating "but hey, global poverty levels are down, time to celebrate!", because nobody is arguing against that), but in the sense of relative psychological and sociological security, solidarity, and trust, achieved by low level of inequality.

The question is simple: if you really had the choice, what kind of society would you like to live in? A society where there's more trust, more solidarity, better mental and physiological health, less crime, and less depression and anxiety, or a society that is worse in those aspects? It is not very difficult to come up with an answer.

The authors take a lot of data sets and many different countries, after which they proceed to show the relationships between the aspects above and inequality levels. Their conclusion is clear: having huge levels of inequality does not lead to very healthy societies. Correlation is of course not causation, and the book has a separate chapter discussing finer points that lead to its conclusions.

Taken together with another book, "Inequality: What Can Be Done?", the time is overdue to focus our perspective on helping each other and ourselves to have healthier environments, both mentally and physically, worth living in.

Many great accomplishments start with a small, simple, and powerful idea; and if we'll have a better future, then this book will be among the valuable few that put forward the idea of "less inequality, healthier society". ( )

Uses a number of data supported examples to demonstrate that poorer societal outcomes result in part from greater inequality (not just for the poor but for all quartiles of wealth). They hypothesise that this results from changes to trust and social connectedness. This section had too much evolutionary psychology for me (not that convinced in science that cannot make predictions). Suggested methods for improving equality of societies. ( )

I have heard people raving about this book for some time. I did not bother to read it because I felt that I already knew that equality was better than the alternative and that reading another moralising book wasn't going to be of much value.

I WAS WRONG on just about every account. This is the best book that I have read in a long time. It is far from being a glib peon to 'being nice' and, I strongly recommend that any of you who have not read it yet, so do.

The first thing that one notices is that it doesn't talk about what it would be nice, were we to do. The whole perspective of this book is about what is best for each of us; be we unemployed and homeless or multimillionaire heads of industry; and that is the key. This book clearly demonstrates that greater equality is to all our advantage.

The second thing to note about this book, is that it is not based upon opinion. It is packed with graphs produced from the official statistics of as many countries as are willing to release their records to the public. Now, I know the old saying, about "lies, d**n lies and statistics" but, in this instance, the data were not collected by the authors, and comparisons are like for like: i.e. if the argument is advanced that more people are imprisoned in countries with greater variation between highest and lowest paid personnel, ALL countries figures are included, not a selection that are convenient.

The book does come to some conclusions, not so to do, would surely have been a cop out, but these have been carefully balanced so that it is not an endorsement of either traditional left or right wing politics. We are not presented with "the World must do this or that"; suggestions as to different routes that might lead to a better place are included. Of course, reading this, or any other book does not give one all the solutions, but what it does do, is change one's perspective on the problem and show the futility of the us and them approach so commonly in use today. ( )

Less concrete when compare to "The Price of Inequality" but spread the same message in a different way.

Chats and chats and chats that compare why people living in less equality would make them less happy, less trusting.

Just started on the first 4 chapters, already like it.

Money mean less for a society when it already well fed. But then you are less happy when you are much poorer than your neighbors.

Overall, it sucks for all people when society is too unequal.

Will come back after I read a few more chapters. ( )

The ideas in this book are very interesting, but unfortunately the book itself is poorly written. It would be a better read if it just limited itself to the facts and left out all the vague explanations of the reasons why the facts are the way they are. ( )

This is a must read book for everyone hence the rating. I would like to unreservedly recommend it but I cannot. It is a hard read, I kept having to put the book down because my head was hurting too much from all the blows. To say it is evangelical would be an understatement. The authors have their soap box and they are single minded in ensuring the message does not escape anyone. But what an important message, the greater the income inequality the more symptoms of a sick social malaise there are. You name it, violence, mistrust, totalitarianism, obesity, suicide, prison population, under performing children and more much more are all shown to increase the more unequal a society becomes. Contrary to common presumptions, egalitarianism is not a cranky far left fantasy but a very central core community spirit we all aspire to.

Right, got the message but the book bangs on and on, showing more and more statistics that prove incontrovertibly their message. This is where I begin to lose it. When evangelicals thump I tend to get wary and start to look for alternative scenarios. I am not in a position to query let alone challenge their presentation of statistics, it all looks so overwhelming convincing. I not able to nitpick about data spreads, median lines, angles or scale but have to leave that to those that understand. When data is so overwhelming then there just has to be an alternative view. None is offered. There has to be a counter approach, there has to be historical evidence that gainsays their gospel, there has to be recent changes that run counter to their all encompassing answer, inequality. It is human nature to screw up and overlook the alternate view point.

Nethertheless the message is highly important with significant implications for our society, where it is and what has to happen. We should all get our minds around the issues raised. It was with some relief when three quarters of the way through the book suddenly changed tack and began to widen its view and looked in a more expansive way as to how their findings work and are relevant. Great, I could begin to enjoy the read again. Unfortunately they found a new soap box, climate change and began again to thump away. Well meaning, earnest, very serious in intent and purpose. Maybe just not gifted writers for the masses. Yet clearly that was their intended audience with a book having scholarly origins but dumbed down for an all to read. Pity and equally well-done. At least they have made digestible the indigestible and in doing so given access to highly significant findings. Inequality damages us all, poor and the rich alike.

In their new edition postscript they do try to respond to all the criticisms aimed at their studies. But for me it is too much of the converted cherry picking what they choose to respond to, what to ignore and appeals to overwhelming numbers supporting the cause. Despite all of what I have said, I urge you, do please read this book. Put it down and then reflect. You may well find it to says deeply significant things about our society and the problems you feel but cannot isolate and expound. It did for me. ( )

Correlation of inequality, crime and social dysfunction

Tankarna bakom boken är tänkvärda och intressanta. Något fundersam över urvalet av variabler och val av fall, samt i vissa fall slutsaterna. Positivt att de åtminstone poängterar detta vid tillfällen. Har inte kollat bakomliggande källor osv.

The thesis of this book is that greater equality creates a better society is a no-brainer for me. But we live in an age where there are some who promote greater inequality and deny the need for society at all. The authors richly illustrate the advantages of equality and the disadvantages of inequality in our world. This is probably not a work to listen to as an audiobook as I think for my mind it requires greater attention and study. ( )

Any attempt to understand the current state of the world would be incomplete without reading this book. Many of society's current ills are directly related to the growth in inequality. This book shows the extent of the relationships.

The basic points are (1) on many measures of health and social problems, those problems are worse in more unequal societies than in more equal societies and (2) inequality does not only harm those at the bottom of the income distribution. Thus, societies that are more equal are healthier, happier societies (for all their inhabitants).

Unfortunately, I fear that only the "data geeks" among us (and I count myself in that group) would ever make it all the way through the 300 pages. Thus, although I consider all the information contained in this book to be of utmost importance, I will suggest the following "alternative/abridged" reading program for most readers. Data geeks are of course free to read the whole thing. And perhaps, having read the following pieces, other readers will be inclined to delve further.

Start with Part I, which lays out the basic foundation of the argument in 3 chapters and less than 50 pages.

Skim through the meat of the data as presented in Part II, Chapters 4-12, familiarizing yourself with as many graphs as you can tolerate. (For those with no experience with graphs at all, please first review pp. xix-xxi "Note on Graphs".)

Read the conclusions and thoughts for the future presented in Chapter 16 "Building the Future". Most readers will be surprised at what they find in this chapter. There are many different ways to increase equality (and decrease inequality); so don't assume you know what the answer might be. In addition, despite the depressing nature of the statistics, the authors are rather optimistic for the possibilities of improving our lives, the lives of our neighbors, and the life of our planet.

Finally, if even the above seems too much to read, or if you are still not convinced, check out Richard Wilkinson's TED Talk at: http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson.html

Postscript: I read the book and wrote this review without reading the many criticisms of the book leveled from a variety of special interests and politicos (many of whom do not seem to actually have READ the book). If you are inclined to get your news from places like Faux News and The Tax Payers' Alliance, you might want to start with the Postscript beginning on p. 273. There the authors address some of the inaccuracies you might have been fed about this book and its data. ( )

Interesting but disappointing. It feels like a superficial collection of topics and lacks depth. ( )

Thought provoking, but intensely frustrating book. Proves that inequality has many bad consequences, but is uninterested in why inequality exists. Advocates a grass-roots movement of pro-equality networking groups and writing letters to the newspaper. ( )

The main premise of this book is that, once countries have reached a basic level of prosperity, those that have a more equal distribution of wealth do better than those with large inequalities. Specifically, everyone (the poor, the middle class and the rich) are better off in more equal socieities. While that basic argument was clear, I had difficulty at times connecting the data to the argument. The book also ignored gender differences, and cultural differences among countries and within heterogenous societies. Nice idea, supported with lots of data but not convincingly argued. ( )

Utter bilge from before the first page. I picked this up as it has gained some media prominence as being "important", or even more worryingly as a book which is influencing political thought at this moment of retrenchment following the financial crises. However it is clear from the introductory notes (which "explain" how lines of best-fit are to be read, and urge the reader to take it on trust that their best-fit lines are correct and meaningful) that this book is actually an attempt to justify an ideological position by selectively presenting a mass of sociological data. The data points (and sets) reveal massive selection bias, and reference to the original sources (OECD, UN etc) shows that even the data which is presented is often presented disingenuously.
Edward Tufte would have a field-day dissecting this book. Do not read. If your local MP appears to have read it, be afraid. ( )

A compelling statement of the problem, but their proposed solutions are fairly thin sauce. Nothing for it but to move to Scandinavia, apparently! ( )

Using cross-country comparisons and a wealth of data, Wilkinson and Pickett make a strong argument for how and why a more equal distribution of wealth create a happier and healthier society. This book is important not only because it makes the case that quality of life is improved for those in disadvantaged positions when a society is more equal (a pretty simple argument to support) but because it also argues that quality of life (read: happiness and satisfaction, at least) for those in positions of economic power in more equal societies is greater than in highly unequal societies. My only gripes about this book are its rather constant reference to charts and graphs embedded in the text, and its reliance on explaining the data instead of discussing the concepts. ( )

As a current graduate student in peace studies and conflict resolution, one would be forgiven for thinking that I already agree with many of the arguments which drive this book. That is, that societies with greater levels of mutual equality between all of their members possess fewer instances of conflict and structural weaknesses in social and state institutions.

That being said though, this work comes to the table with an arsenal of statistics and research to drive its point home and stave off a number of anticipated responses from doubters. Charts and tables are common accessories to the writing, to provide as many opportunities as possible for visual representations of the research to remain present in the mind of the reader.

If anything, my only real complaint with the book, enough so that it is worth a whole point deduction, is the density of it all. This is an important book certainly, but it certainly does not possess the slickness of little witticisms and other such accoutrements that would be necessary for most folks to consider giving it a read.

It works as an excellent textbook, and the information contained within makes some seriously important arguments, but it will be incredibly difficult for one to convince a friend or family member to borrow or buy it. ( )

The Spirit Level is one of the few books, similar for example to Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel, that will blow your mind. Its simple message that a more equal society is a better society, even for the rich, strikes deep. Reading some of the reviews here and at Amazon, this simple truth hurts some too much. So if you are one of the USA! USA! USA! crowd or if you think obesity, diabetes or poverty are beautiful, then this book is not for you. Reality has a liberal bias.

Some conservatives have tried to undermine the message by mixing in non-OECD (i.e. non-rich) countries into their sample. Which is completely beside the point. Naturally, life in the United States of America is better than in most African nations or in Russia. But isn't it a rather weak claim to say that the US is better than a Second or Third World nation? Among First World nations, the (peer reviewed) statistics presented by the authors conclusively show that more equal societies score better in whatever goal one targets (health, crime, social mobility, innovation, etc.). It used to be different: The American founding fathers were deeply shocked seeing the unequal societies in Europe. The US used to be a beacon of equality and liberty (this cherished image instead of reality still lingers in many a conservative mind).

The authors could also have used the economic concept of marginal utility. A family with food insecurity will have much greater benefit from an extra one thousand dollars than a hedge fund billionaire. While the book is tight in making its case that more equality is better, it fails to develop a case how to revert the damaging policies of the Reagan revolution. Barack Obama's craven surrender in prolonging the wasteful, unpaid for Bush cronies tax relief shows how difficult it is to get this simple message across in some are more equal NewSpeak United States of America.

Highly recommended. ( )

Pickett and Wilkinson demonstrate how the U.S. suffers because of inequality and suggest some solutions that are neither left nor right politically. Other reviewers have criticized the authors for conflating correlation with causality, but I find they adequately address that concern. ( )

I loved reading this book because it confirmed for me much of what I had suspected, and suggested that my views were supported by the data. In reading the reviews here though, I fear I may have been too uncritical, and I intend to reread the book with a mind on the comments below. ( )

Really enjoyed this book and I'd reccomend it to everyone. The book is very accessible and is a very enjoyable introduction to sociology. This is the kind of book that does what a good read should; it has the capacity to change the way you think. This comes both as a result of its simple methodology and the massive implications of its findings. Although there have been many criticisms of the text, this is just testimony to how important the ideas are. In reality even the criticisms are worth reading. This book is great because its a real talking point. ( )

This was an excellent book with wide ranging implications. In a society where we are told to succeed at all costs, The Spirit Level suggests we should achieve equality at all costs. Unhappiness does not come from wealth or poverty, but from the gap between the wealthy and the poor. Narrowing that gap, the book suggests, will bring about greater happiness. I was impressed with the cross-cultural context of the book, showing that problems in one area of the world are not unique and suggesting that we can actually learn something from another culture. Perhaps instead of wealth we should all be struggling for happiness, something that even the wealthiest society cannot achieve if there is not equality. ( )