The Spirit Level

In The Spirit Level, Pickett and Wilkinson explain that material inequality harms a country’s social relationships and sense of community. Pickett and Wilkinson paint a positive picture of egalitarian countries, which tend to enjoy higher levels of social trust. They write, “In Norway it is not unusual to see cafes with tables and chairs on the pavement and blankets left out for people to use if they feel chilly while having a coffee. Nobody worries about customers or passersby stealing the blankets” (54). According to the authors, it is generally people’s similarity in status that makes such social trust possible, since people with similar incomes are more likely to relate positively to each other than those who are divided by vastly different class experiences.  

The authors establish that people in egalitarian societies are more likely to share neighborhoods and public spaces, which fosters a sense of community amongst them. In contrast, people in more hierarchical places are literally divided by their unequal incomes, which separate them geographically into starkly different neighborhoods. As income inequality becomes entrenched in populations, high earners are concentrated in wealthier neighborhoods, away from lower earners, while the poorest neighborhoods become more ghettoized.