Richard Wilkinson Speaks on Income Inequality

On Thursday, November 10, Dr. Richard Wilkinson, the internationally-acclaimed epidemiologist and inequality scholar spoke to Concord University students in the Main Auditorium. The talk lasted from 2:00 to 3:15 in the afternoon, and was addressed to a packed auditorium. It was sponsored by the Sociology Department and as Wilkinson, who is English, could not make it to the United States for the talk, it was instead given over a Skype call. His talk, “Is Inequality Killing Us?” was followed by questions fielded from the audience. 

    Wilkinson is known for his groundbreaking research on income inequality and its effects on the mental well-being of societies. He is now Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham Medical School, Honorary Professor at University College London, and Visiting Professor at the University of York, as well as a board member of The Equality Trust, which he co-founded. He began his discussions with a decidedly bleak picture of modern day society, arguing that the governments of nations around the world are not properly equipped to deal with the mental well-being of their citizens.

    The study and treatment of mental health being a relatively new field in science, it would stand to reason that countries do not have the means to deal with it. He continued to argue that income inequality has a direct effect on the mental well-being of everyone in the country. He presented graphs that showed that the greater the difference between the richest and the poorest people in a society, the worse mental disease that country exhibited. 

    While there was a correlation between mental illness and income inequality, Wilkinson argued that there was no correlation between national GDP and life expectancy. However, what the studies he mentioned did show was that mortality was higher in low income areas in all societies, including the richest countries. Wilkinson argued that, based on the mortality rates and the mental illness in lower income countries, income inequality is socially corrosive. “Compared to equal countries, economically unequal countries have higher social problems. For example, prison rates are higher in more economically unequal countries, just as an example. In addition, mental illness, such as instances of depression and anxiety, were higher in the poorer states in the United States than there were in more equal states in the United States.”

    Wilkinson also added that bigger material differences create bigger social distances and increase social class. Low social status equals low self-esteem, which increases many different psychosocial risk factors for ill mental health, such as weak social connections. In less equal societies, community life essentially dies. In such societies, people would rather fight each other and defend themselves rather than help one another get the things that we all need to survive. As an example, in countries such as Mexico and South Africa, people put barbed wire and fences around their property to keep out undesirables. He also stressed the importance of friendship, as isolation and a lack of friends is just as hazardous to a person’s health as smoking. 

    Wilkinson concluded by saying that the best way to eliminate income inequality is to get money out of politics. He showed that while that there is a long way to go to get income equality, there is hope to make things more fair for all, and hopefully improve the mental health of all involved in the process.