Shop now Learn more Shop now Shop All Amazon Fashion Up to 70% off Fashion Cloud Drive Photos Shop now Shop Amazon Fire TV Shop now Shop Fire HD 6 Shop Kindle Voyage Shop now Pre-order now Shop now
The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone and over 2 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
Facebook Twitter Pinterest
Buy Used
£5.91
+ £2.80 UK delivery
Used: Good | Details
Sold by awesome_books_001
Condition: Used: Good
Comment: SUPER FAST SHIPPING, DISPATCHED SAME DAY FROM UK WAREHOUSE. NO NEED TO WAIT FOR BOOKS FROM USA. GREAT BOOK IN GOOD OR BETTER CONDITION. MORE GREAT BARGAINS IN OUR ZSHOP.
Trade in your item
Get a £0.36
Gift Card.
Trade in
Learn More
Have one to sell?
Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See this image

The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better Hardcover – 5 Mar 2009

by Richard Wilkinson (Author), Kate Pickett (Author)
254 customer reviews
See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition
"Please retry"
£7.31
— —
Hardcover
"Please retry"
—
— £5.37
Hardcover, 5 Mar 2009
—
£18.99 £5.91
Paperback
"Please retry"
£7.69
£4.70 £2.88
MP3 CD
"Please retry"
£23.05
£20.78 £66.67
Unknown Binding
"Please retry"
—
— —

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Back
  1. Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class
    Owen Jones
    355
    Paperback
    £6.99 Amazon Prime
  2. Bad Samaritans: The Guilty Secrets of Rich Nations and the Threat to Global Prosperity
    Ha-Joon Chang
    36
    Paperback
    £6.74 Amazon Prime
  3. The Establishment: And how they get away with it
    Owen Jones
    704
    Hardcover
    £11.89 Amazon Prime
  4. The Establishment: And how they get away with it
    Owen Jones
    704
    Paperback
    £3.85 Amazon Prime
  5. Injustice: Why Social Inequality Persists
    Daniel Dorling
    21
    Paperback
  6. Occupy
    Noam Chomsky
    35
    Paperback
    £3.90 Amazon Prime
Next

Product details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Allen Lane; REPRINT edition (5 Mar. 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1846140390
  • ISBN-13: 978-1846140396
  • Product Dimensions: 14.4 x 3.3 x 22.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (254 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 267,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info, give feedback on images, or tell us about a lower price?

Product Description

Review

'This is a book with a big idea, big enough to change political thinking' -- John Carey, Sunday Times

'what might be the most important book of the year' -- John Grace, Guardian

Review

'This is a book with a big idea, big enough to change political thinking'
See all Product Description

Inside This Book

(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
5 star
172
4 star
44
3 star
9
2 star
13
1 star
16
See all 254 customer reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Inequality- as bad for the rich as for the poor
By Dr. Peter Davies TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on 23 July 2009
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I welcome this book. It is a superb summary of the problems that inequality actually creates. Inequality issues are often presented as being about the poor, but this book shows that we are all poorer for living in more unequal societies. Inequality is as bad for the rich as it is for the poor. Society is poorer as inequality becomes greater.

The impacts of inequality show up in poorer health, lower educational attainment, higher crime rates, lower social capital, lower trust, lower co-operation the more unequal the society becomes. Wilkinson and Pickett give us clear evidence for these statements.

For the last twelve years we have endured in the UK a Labour government that preaches equality (then wonders "equality of what?") whilst actually presiding over increasing inequality and reducing social mobility.

Wilkinson and Pickett present their evidence well, in summary and clearly. I have the benefit of having been reading the research work on inequalities over several years so I recognised their evidence. If you need further evidence then you could follow the references, or read some of Wilkinson's The Impact of Inequality: How to Make Sick Societies Healthierearlier works, or Michael Marmot's useful book, "Status Syndrome." Status Syndrome: How Your Social Standing Directly Affects Your HealthTheir presentation of evidence is strong, and it is difficult after seeing their evidence to argue in favour of greater inequality at all.

Inequality is clearly a bad thing for a society, and its constituent individuals.Read more ›
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback. If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Excellent - a shocking read
By Orrery on 5 Jun. 2014
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This book has re-aligned my views completely. In case the title is misleading, the 'equality' is income equality (or inequality) and correlates to so many factors in our society - health outcomes, childhood literacy, obesity, teenage pregnancy etc.

It shows how very unequal societies have much worse problems, even for the very rich. You just end up with the rich having to live in gated communities for security.

Certainly, this is one of the most influential books I've ever read.
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback. If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Clear and convincing introduction to evidence-based policy
By Jezza on 27 Aug. 2009
Format: Hardcover
...which should be required reading for every politician and policy-maker. Equality works - the evidence is overwhelming. Inequality doesn't work - it doesn't deliver a cohesive society or a sustainable economy or even economic performance as any sensible person would measure it.

At first the book is a bit tiring as it grinds through the evidence for this, but it does make the slightly more analytical section later on seem more grounded.

Fascinating to see that Cuba is literally the only country in the world to deliver high levels of human wellbeing at low levels of environmental impact; whatever we think of its shortcomings, and there are many, the place needs to be nurtured and treasured like a rare plant which contains a precious medicine -- not blockaded and bullied into adopting 'free market' solutions. Interesting to see too how well Japan does on so many indices - why do our politicians spend so much time learning from the US and so little from anywhere else?

Weak on actual remedies and policies that will help us to move in the right direction but still a brilliant read.
2 Comments Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback. If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
The book is an important contribution in urging politicians to see social problems as having social solutions
By Mark Pack TOP 500 REVIEWER on 10 Dec. 2011
Format: Paperback
Although first published under a Labour government in 2009, this book is still highly relevant now we have a Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition. In fact, it is even more relevant because the current political and economic circumstances are forcing politicians to think carefully about how much we are worried about inequality of outcome. Wilkinson and Pickett argue that widespread inequality helps increase a huge range of social ills, with the result that everyone suffers - even the most well off. Inequality in their view isn't just bad for the poor, it's also bad for the rich.

Analysing data primarily from 21 developed countries and also the different American states, they present evidence of a correlation between the level of inequality in each country (or state) and a range of outcomes: levels of trust, mental illness, life expectancy, infant mortality, obesity, children's educational performance, number of teenage births, murders, imprisonment rates and social mobility. More inequality goes with lower trust, more mental illness, higher murder rates and so on.

Within a particular society being richer may go with the problem being smaller for yourself, but across the society as a whole it is the level of inequality that, they say, determines the overall levels of the problem.

The authors therefore argue that rather than securing further economic growth, inequality is now the big challenge facing developed societies: "When the wolf was never far from the door, good times were times of plenty. But for the vast majority of people in affluent countries the difficulties of life are no longer about filling our stomachs, having clear water and keeping warm. Most of us now wish we could eat less rather than more.Read more ›
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback. If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Most Recent Customer Reviews

that we'd all be much more content if the gap between rich and poor...

A very necessary book - proving beyond doubt, with a multitude of facts, that we'd all be much more content if the gap between rich and poor were not so huge: we humans tend to... Read more

Published 8 days ago by Irene Auerbach
Well evidenced

How stupid of me not have thought of that. A simple idea well evidenced and argued.

It's also enlightening to see the kind of crap used to try to argue against it.

Published 9 days ago by psiloiordinary
Five Stars

Interesting read.

Published 22 days ago by SamiSimeone
Interesting subject

As yet I have only dipped into it but I think it will be interesting.

Published 22 days ago by Mrs S Morland
great

great

Published 1 month ago by s.a.winchester
Two Stars

Useful material. Very relevant if we want to reduce inequality.

Published 1 month ago by John Wilkins
Amazing, informative book about inequality in the world and ...

Amazing, informative book about inequality in the world and why. A must read. In the meantime, perhaps Amazon can assist by paying their taxes!

Published 1 month ago by Maddy
Difficult to dispute

A book that will become more rather than less important as time passes and inequality increases. The analysis is supported by a wealth of data; if some of it is questionable, the... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Paul Corner
An amazing, epiphany inducing book!

An amazing, epiphany inducing book! It seems so insightful when reading it through first time but, on reflection all the salient points seem so obvious. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Jonathan Bayley
Five Stars

A very interesting book.

Published 2 months ago by Anna Smith

There's a problem loading this menu at the moment.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

Look for similar items by category

Feedback