Kate Pickett - Böcker

Det har alltid funnits de som intuitivt förstått att ojäm­likhet är socialt nedbrytan­de. Men det är först på senare år som man kunnat ta reda på exakt hur. Den bild som då fram­träder är både chockerande och överraskande. Chockerande efter­som skadeverkningar­na visar sig vara långt större än vad man hade trott. Överraskande eftersom ojämlikheten visar sig drabba inte bara de fattiga. Även de rika får betala ett högt pris i form av sämre hälsa och kortare liv. Jämlikhetsanden presenterar en ­omfattande forskning och ­statistik från 23 rika länder - däribland Sverige - som visar hur graden av ojämlikhet i ett samhälle påverkar oss. Trots den förfärande verklighet som synliggörs har boken ett hoppfullt budskap. De nya kunskaper som ges om hur våra ­moderna samhällen fungerar är kraftfulla ­verktyg för att vända den negativa ­spiral av ökande samhällsproblem, misstro och social oro som ­präglat västvärlden i ­flera decennier. OM FÖRFATTARNA Richard Wilkinson har varit tongivande inom inter­na­tio­nell forskning kring sociala faktorer med central betydelse för hälsan. Efter studier i ekonomisk historia vid London School of Economics övergick han till forskning inom epidemiologi och är professor emeritus vid University of Nottingham ­Medical School, hedersprofessor vid ­University College ­London och gästprofessor vid University of York. Kate Pickett är professor i epidemiologi vid ­University of York och forskare vid National Institute for Health Research. Hon har studerat näringsvetenskap vid Cornell, fysisk antropologi vid ­Cam­bridge och epidemiologi vid ­University of California - Berkeley. De bor i North Yorkshire, England. FRÅN MOTTAGANDET I SVERIGE "Med en arsenal av tabeller och statistik smular boken sönder den sedan några årtionden hårt propagerade idén om att det är ökad ojämlikhet som är bättre för alla." Göran Rosenberg i Dagens Nyheter "Jämlikhetsanden utgör en ren guldgruva av forskningsunderbyggda argument för en mer rättvis fördelning av samhälleliga resurser. Vem kan med hedern i behåll propagera för ökad lönespridning, när det uppenbarligen är sämre inte bara för dem längst ner, utan också för dem längst upp?" Eva-Lotta Hultén i Göteborgs-Posten "Det är näst intill omöjligt att inte hålla med författarna om att de samlade­ observationerna pekar i en tydlig riktning: jämlika samhällen är nästan alltid­ bättre än ojämlika samhällen." Joakim Molander i Svenska Dagbladet "Med akademisk nit och redbarhet presenteras studie efter studie som verifi­erar bokens tes: jämlika samhällen är nästan alltid bättre." Ann Heberlein i Sydsvenskan "En av de mest uppmuntrande och stimulerande böcker jag läst på länge." Henrik Berggren i Dagens Nyheter "Sällan sträckläser man väl en faktabok full med forskning. Men den här kan man inte lägga i från sig. De brittiska forskarna fyller kapitel­ efter kapitel med dokumentation och siffror om hur förödande bristen på jämlikhet är för oss som individer och för våra överflödssam­hällen. En verkligt visionär bok som visar att rättvisan är produktiv." Liv Beckström i Kommunalarbetaren "Ger ett av de mest övertygande och välargumenterade förslagen till social förbättring som jag läst på tio år. Jag hoppas att så många politiker som möjligt läser den. Budskapet om att det går att vända den negativa spiral som våra moderna samhällen befinner sig i är helt enkelt för hoppfullt för att de ska ha råd att missa det." Ulrika Kärnborg i Dagens Nyheter "Boken har potential att slamdunka tillbaka jämlikheten på den globala poli­­tiska dagordningen. Jämlikhetsanden är en fascinerande bok som inte bara är obligatorisk läsning för den svenska vänstern, utan för alla som vill skapa ett humanare samhälle." Dan Josefsson i Aftonbladet "Jämlikheten är den bästa och billigaste lösningen för att minska sjuk­domar och brottslighet. Dokumentationen i Jämlikhetsanden är övertygande." Tomas ­Polvall i Smålandsposten "En bok vars politiska slagkraft knappast kan undervärderas, i alla fall för en europeisk arbetarrörelse, som varit på defensiven i årtionden.­ Den kan nu räta på ryggen och göra politik av forskningsfynden." Petter Larsson i Helsingborgs Dagblad "En av de mer förskräckande och samtidigt hoppingivande böcker jag läst på länge. Under lång tid nu har färdriktningen i Sverige och de flesta samhällen gått mot ökad ojämlikhet. Jämlikhetsanden är därmed dynamit." Göran Greider i Metro "Visar med stor effektivitet att jämlika samhällen klarar sig bättre." Håkan A. Bengtsson i Dagens Arena "Ordet 'jämlikhet' skadades svårt av Berlinmurens fallande betongblock. Ordet har solkats av kommunismens misslyckande i öst. Men det är en konvalescent som nu är uppe på benen igen, och mirakelläkarna bakom tillfrisknandet är ­Richard Wilkinson och Kate Pickett." Kristian Ekenberg i Arbetarbladet "Ingen bok har påverkat den europeiska socialdemokratin lika mycket sedan Anthony Giddens utkom med Tredje vägen." Eric Sundström i Aktuellt i Politiken "En av de sällsynta böcker som kan förändra perspektivet i samhällsdebatten. Det finns mig veterligen bara två böcker som näringslivets tankesmedjor oroat sig så mycket över att de försökt bemöta dem ­organiserat. Den ena är Naomi Kleins Chockdoktrinen. Den andra är Jämlikhetsanden. Det kan mycket väl hända att Jämlikhetsanden är den farligare av de två." Aron Etzler i Flamman

An inspiring manifesto offering a radical vision for our political future.We live in an age of crisis and decline. The right presents ‘solutions’ that only worsen the situation, driving a downward cycle in which desperation leads to despair. But the left is also to blame: progressive politicians have consistently failed to recognise both the urgency of people’s need and their receptiveness to new solutions.In Act now, a team of leading researchers presents a compelling and achievable vision for a progressive future. They outline clear policies for welfare, health and social care, education, housing and more. Arguing for a rolling forwards of the state, they call for a new era of active citizenship and economic democracy, grounded in robust and resilient institutions.Only a comprehensive and integrated approach, based on clear evidence of feasibility and popularity, can provide a pathway to the secure, democratic and prosperous Britain of tomorrow. This book is the blueprint. It calls on politicians, pundits and the British people to act now.

Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett's The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone is the most influential and talked-about book on society in the last decade - now updated with a new chapter on the controversy the book has ignited.Why do we mistrust people more in the UK than in Japan? Why do Americans have higher rates of teenage pregnancy than the French? What makes the Swedish thinner than the Australians? The answer: inequality.This groundbreaking book, based on years of research, provides hard evidence to show: How almost everything - from life expectancy to mental illness, violence to illiteracy - is affected not by how wealthy a society is, but how equal it isThat societies with a bigger gap between rich and poor are bad for everyone in them - including the well-off How we can find positive solutions and move towards a happier, fairer futureUrgent, provocative and genuinely uplifting, The Spirit Level has been heralded as providing a new way of thinking about ourselves and our communities, and could change the way you see the world. 'A big idea, big enough to change political thinking' - Guardian'A remarkable new book ... the implications are profound' - Will Hutton, Observer'The evidence is hard to dispute' - EconomistRichard Wilkinson studied economic history at the London School of Economics before training in epidemiology and is Professor Emeritus at the University of Nottingham Medical School and Honorary Professor at University College London.Kate Pickett is a Professor of Epidemiology at the University of York and a National Institute for Health Research Career Scientist. Her work with Richard Wilkinson on The Spirit Level was shortlisted for Research Project of the Year 2009 by the Times Higher Education Supplement, and their book was chosen as one of the Top Ten Books of the Decade by the New Statesman.

The essential new book from the authors of the international bestseller The Spirit Level'Why are people, particularly young people, experiencing increasing levels of mental illness and distress? Highly readable and authoritative, The Inner Level shows clearly how social anxieties and the problems they lead to rise steadily in richer, more unequal societies' Clare Short, The Tablet, Books of the YearWhy is the incidence of mental illness in the UK twice that in Germany? Why are Americans three times more likely than the Dutch to develop gambling problems? Why is child well-being so much worse in New Zealand than Japan? As this groundbreaking study demonstrates, the answer to all these hinges on inequality.In The Spirit Level Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett put inequality at the centre of public debateby showing conclusively that less-equal societies fare worse than more equal ones across everythingfrom education to life expectancy. The Inner Level now explains how inequality affects us individually,how it alters how we think, feel and behave. It sets out the overwhelming evidence that materialinequalities have powerful psychological effects: when the gap between rich and poor increases, so does the tendency to defi ne and value ourselves and others in terms of superiority and inferiority. A deep well of data and analysis is drawn upon to empirically show, for example, that low social status is associated with elevated levels of stress, and how rates of anxiety and depression are intimately related to the inequality which makes that status paramount.Wilkinson and Pickett describe how these responses to hierarchies evolved, and why the impacts ofinequality on us are so severe. In doing so, they challenge the conception that humans are innatelycompetitive and self-interested. They undermine, too, the idea that inequality is the product of 'natural' differences in individual ability. This book sheds new light on many of the most urgent problems facing societies today, but it is not just an index of our ills. It demonstrates that societies based on fundamental equalities, sharing and reciprocity generate much higher levels of well-being, and lays out the path towards them.

Some groups of people are healthier than others. Overwhelmingly, for almost all kinds of morbidity and mortality, groups at the bottom of the social scale are less healthy than those at the top. But this simple observation describes a complex phenomenon that has become a major focus of research, teaching, intervention, and public policy and has led to recognition of the stark power of social determinants of population health. Why are poorer, less educated, lower-class groups less healthy than others? Historically, and indeed today, this has been a question that has polarized researchers, policy-makers, politicians, and casual onlookers. The debate is intensely contentious because if health inequalities are largely a consequence of people at the bottom of the social scale lacking resources and living in poor conditions, then, arguably, policies must be directed towards correcting those material deficits. But if inequalities in health are largely due to the social inequalities among people and their feelings about their position in relation to other people, then policies that encourage a more egalitarian society may be needed to close the health gap.Edited by two leading scholars in the field, the four volumes in this new Routledge Major Work bring together key research from a wide range of disciplines, including epidemiology and public health, sociology, psychology, biology, and public policy, to provide a coherent and multidisciplinary synthesis of this vast and vibrant literature.Volume I assembles the basic evidence of health inequalities in different countries and different time periods, and focuses on the extent to which health inequalities result from social selection versus social causation. Volume II covers the main schools of thought on the causes of health inequalities and the pathways linking low social status to poor health. The focus of the third volume is on the effectiveness of interventions that have been designed to reduce health inequalities. The theme of Volume IV is the social and political ecology of health and the biology and psychology of human sensitivity to the social environment.Fully indexed and with a comprehensive introduction newly written by the editors, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Health and Inequality is an essential work of reference for both scholars and practitioners hoping to understand (and mitigate or remove) inequalities in health.

Basic income can no longer be dismissed as a utopian idea — it’s being tested worldwide. But can it truly transform economies and societies?This book dives into real-world examples, revealing how basic income reshapes lives. It explores the ripple effects of financial security—better health, stronger communities, more education, meaningful work, and engaged citizenship. By breaking the cycle of poverty, basic income unlocks access to essentials like food and housing, empowers people, and fuels long-term thinking and entrepreneurshipTying together theory with groundbreaking evidence from real-world trials, this book shows why basic income isn’t just possible—it’s the vital solution to our age of crisis, paving the way for a fairer society.

An inspiring manifesto offering a radical vision for our political future.We live in an age of crisis and decline. The right presents ‘solutions’ that only worsen the situation, driving a downward cycle in which desperation leads to despair. But the left is also to blame: progressive politicians have consistently failed to recognise both the urgency of people’s need and their receptiveness to new solutions.In Act now, a team of leading researchers presents a compelling and achievable vision for a progressive future. They outline clear policies for welfare, health and social care, education, housing and more. Arguing for a rolling forwards of the state, they call for a new era of active citizenship and economic democracy, grounded in robust and resilient institutions.Only a comprehensive and integrated approach, based on clear evidence of feasibility and popularity, can provide a pathway to the secure, democratic and prosperous Britain of tomorrow. This book is the blueprint. It calls on politicians, pundits and the British people to act now.

A fairer, healthier, more caring and sustainable society is entirely within our grasp. The renowned co-author of The Spirit Level shows us the way.'Just what these times are crying out for’ KATE RAWORTH, author of Doughnut Economics'Poverty and inequality are at the heart of all our problems. Kate Pickett's book shows how tackling them must be at the heart of our solutions too' ZACK POLANSKI'An uplifting vision for solving inequality that benefits everyone' ANDY BURNHAM• How do we ensure that everyone has good health and receives the care they need?• How do we provide education that allows every child to flourish?• How do we ensure safety, justice and a sustainable environment for all?Kate Pickett is a world-leading social scientist whose life’s work has been to identify the underlying causes of society’s most important problems – and the long-term solutions that will actually work.In this inspiring book, she shows that to make a good society – in which everyone has what they need to be well, and everyone would be better off – we must prioritise the health, care, education and rehabilitation of those who have the least and suffer the most. This means confronting once and for all the fundamental problems of poverty and inequality that lie behind all the others.Drawing on over three decades of evidence, and an array of proven solutions and real-world success stories from across the globe, The Good Society cuts to the essence of the challenges we face and presents us with a practical, galvanising, perspective-shifting vision for how to tackle them.