Gunnarthorell's Blog

Wilkinson does not imagine that equality can be achieved in any utopian sense (ala Communism’s New Man or Heaven on Earth). A social ranking will always exist, but the question is whether it forms a pyramid that is very steep, or if it is flattened to varying degrees. See below.

He believes that it is natural for man to use both status-seeking and egalitarian strategies in his social action.

The important thing is proportions.

In a distinctly unequal society, the status seeking becomes central.

Economic equality attracts more of diplomacy, friendly behavior, and strategy thereafter.

Companieros (those with whom you share bread, pane).

An similar behavior can be seen in chimpanzee flocks, when the dominant male is NOT physically superior and aggressive. Then, delegation, negotiation behavior, gifts and gift-behaviour are developed.

Rather, if the leader has superior strength and aggressiveness, a tyranny unfolds, where members seek confirmation through submission and self-assertive behavior.

The research (by the gini measure) shows that the entire population is more healthy and well-off with equality. It is not about living standard, or poverty per se, but rather about the distances in the social hierarchy.

In the case of large differences in income, one is disproportionately concerned about one’s status, and the body generates stress hormones. The brain is affected.

The person who is at the bottom of the hierarchy gets poor self-image, feels self-contempt – also contempt of the members of his family.

In such a society, bullying, violent behavior for self-assertion arise.

It also becomes more common there with an inflated, narcissistic self-image to reach recognition, respect. Ostentatious consumption.

Others recedes, isolate themselves, feeling unworthy.

The subjective experience of prolonged self-contempt is internalized and spread to the children.

Three quarters of all Britons have experienced suicide impulses
Financial repression affects the brain and intelligence. It is now proven that signs of intellectual inconsistency are caused by poverty, not the other way around.

The book is called ”The Inner Level” by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Picket.

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