The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die

by Keith Payne

Hardcover, 2017

Status

Available

Pages

256

Collection

Publication

Viking (2017), 256 pages

Description

"A timely examination by a leading scientist of the physical, psychological, and moral effects of inequality Today's inequality is on a scale that none of us has seen in our lifetimes, yet this disparity between rich and poor has ramifications that extend far beyond mere financial means. InThe Broken Ladderpsychologist Keith Payne examines how inequality divides us not just economically, but also has profound consequences for how we think, how our cardiovascular systems respond to stress, how our immune systems function, and how we view moral ideas such as justice and fairness. Experiments in psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics have not only revealed important new insights on how inequality changes people in predictable ways, but have also provided a corrective to our flawed way of viewing poverty as the result of individual character failings. Among modern developed societies, economic inequality is not primarily about money, but rather about relative status: where we stand in relation to other people. Regardless of their average income, countries or states with greater levels of income inequality have much higher rates of all the social problems we associate with poverty, including lower average life expectancies, serious health issues, mental illness, and crime. The Broken Ladderexplores such issues as why women in poor societies often have more children, and have them younger; why there is little trust among the working class that investing for the future will pay off; why people's perception of their relative social status affects their political beliefs, and why growing inequality leads to greater political divisions; how poverty raises stress levels in the same way as a physical threat; inequality in the workplace and how it affects performance; why unequal societies become more religious; and finally offers measures people can take to lessen the harm done by inequality in their own lives and the lives of their children"--… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Jim53
Payne emphasizes the effects of inequality, but he also addresses the importance of comparing ourselves to others in our social contexts. When we find our possessions lacking by comparison, we tend to feel deprived. He points out several studies that purport to show that inequality is more
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important than poverty, and that inequality must be addressed at the top of the scale as well as at the bottom. He talks about focusing on deep values as a way of feeling less deprived; this is a great idea, but it doesn't put food on the table. His emphasis on inequality over poverty seems to minimize the actual poverty that is experienced by people in America and elsewhere. Perhaps it's true that their feeling poor is affected by what they see around them, but the fact that their children are going hungry is not a matter of perception.
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Language

Original language

English

Physical description

256 p.; 6.25 inches

ISBN

0525429816 / 9780525429814

Rating

½ (14 ratings; 3.7)
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