The Spirit Level

Is it really the economic equality something that brings tranquility to the countries, or the interference of the state in solving social problems? That is certainly true. There are numerous examples which show clearly that in countries where there are not distinguished economic gaps and the hand of the state is present, there are fewer chances to have riots or upheavals. The authors are right when stating that the equality must be established in order to have a peaceful and prosperous society.

The recent examples in Tunisia, Egypt or Libya are the best examples with regard to this point. Nevertheless economy is not the most crucial factor including here health or other factors mentioned by the authors. There are also other counter examples which show the opposite of that. The recent protests in Bahrain for example demonstrate that the differences in the way of governance, or even the way a leader behaves, can bring up people’s social spirit to get to rebellion or ask for change thus destabilizing the society.

In other words or examples, even the states which have tried to achieve what the authors write such as; economic equality, health services, fair governance etc, may not face destabilizations but suffer other plagues within their society which are difficult to be handled. Until recently, Sweden, one of the most prosperous countries in the world, had the highest rate of especially female suicidal per capita. Despite the fact that the country was leaving in high standards as those explained in the book this was an unbearable issue. Many sociologists argued that the cause of this problem was, “the very best life”, explaining that those people are used to live in over standard livelihood conditions. For some of them, even a tiny daily problem is considered as the biggest misfortune which made their life seem as meaningless.

What was missing was the spirit of the society, what was the reason of their existence. In other words, the state must strive to fulfill its obligations and create the standards described by the authors but most importantly, must deal with the reasons of existence of its own people.