SPIRIT LEVEL

The book can be summarized as;

• We are at a turning point in human history. For centuries the best way of improving the quality of life has been to raise material living standards. But we have now come to the end of what economic growth can do for developed countries.
• Not only has economic growth in the rich countries ceased to bring the social benefits it once brought (and continues to bring in poorer countries), but it now threatens the planet. We are therefore the first generation to have to find new ways of improving the real quality of life. The evidence suggests that we need to shift our attention away from increasing material wealth, to the social environment and the quality of social relations in our societies.
• It is sometimes said that societies have to choose between greater equality and economic growth. If that were true, people in the rich countries have clearly reached a point where the rational choice would be equality: if our aim is to improve the quality of life while avoiding further damage to the planet, greater equality can do both whereas economic growth can do neither.

 This is the list of what materialistic growth achieved;

• low levels of social trust
• mental illness (including drug and alcohol addiction)
• lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality
• obesity
• poor educational performance
• teenage births
• homicides
• imprisonment rates
• reduced social mobility

And a terrible piece of statistics;

• American states with a wide gap between rich and poor are likelier to retain the death penalty, and to hand out long sentences for minor crimes. In California in 2004, there were 360 people serving life sentences for shoplifting. California has built only one new college since 1984, but 21 new prisons.

          This book has been the most useful one among all the books we’ve talked about this year. It seems it may have influence in the future. In fact, about the equality problem, there is an example practised successfully in the past.