No-Nonsense Guide to Equality

This one, on Equality, is by Danny Dorling, Professor of Human Geography at Sheffield University and an ex-pupil of Cheney School in Oxford. He starts by discussing why equality matters, showing that humans thrive in societies where we are treated as equals.

We work, play, behave and think better when not under the assumption that some of us are more deserving, more able or just much better than others. Dorling backs up his basic thrust with lots of convincing evidence. After demonstrating that more equal societies promote social mobility as well as reducing population growth, he goes on the examine how people win greater equality and how easy it is to lose it, by looking at times when we were more equal.

The happiest and most sustainable societies leave few traces, while monuments like pyramids and palaces were usually built by slaves. Cultural advances in history have often come through revolutions against inequality. Some countries are more equal than others: Denmark tops Dorling’s chart, followed by Japan and Sweden. Sadly the UK rocks up at 21, slightly ahead of the US. Homicide rates show a correlation: the UK and US with rates about five times those of Denmark and Japan.

Finally, a more difficult chapter on how we can achieve more equality in the UK and in the world, suggesting a basic income for all, independent of work. This is obviously controversial, but certainly worth discussing.

Dorling has written lengthier books on the same theme, such as Injustice and So You think You Know About Britain?, which explore the underlying data in much more detail. Readers inspired by this introductory text would find them interesting, too.

The No-Nonsense
Guide to Equality
by Danny Dorling
(New Internationalist, £7.99)