The Spirit Level - Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett - Part 3

The Spirit Level - Richard Wilkinson and
Kate Pickett

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 53

 February 22, 2017 

Book 16 - The Spirit Level:
Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett (2010)
 Part 3 -103-156
Reading Time - 1 hour

Not surprisingly, the authors of this book suggest that income inequality also influence educational performance, teenage births, violence and imprisonment.

Educational performance isn't just what happens at school, family life has a huge impact on a child's ability to learn. Since income inequality affects parents and social perceptions, children suffer.

The violence piece was interesting. Most of us have a rising fear of violence, even though the actual rates of violence are decreasing in some areas. Poor young men are more likely to be violent or victims of violence. In part, this is an attempt to fend off shame and humiliation. Social status for young men is linked with sexual competition - and if they are already at the bottom of the social totem pole because they are poor, violence is seen as a way of raising their status.

In terms of imprisonment... we aren't actually experiencing more crimes... but there are more sentences and longer ones. In 2004, in California, 360 people were serving life sentences for shoplifting. Crazy, no? As you would expect, countries with a higher level of income inequality (like the USA) imprison more of their citizens. Some states in the USA are actually spending more money on building new prisons than they are on education. Studies have shown, however, that prisons actually increase violence (the USA would seem to be a case in point). More unequal societies tend to divert money away from welfare and education and direct it towards prisons. Not that it's very effective in the long run. But in the short term (which is the timeline of most politicians), the government can show that they are "tough on crime". Never mind that imprisoning people will actually increase violence...