correlation between societal disparity of wealth and psychological problems

An article about the correlation between societal disparity of wealth and psychological problems. Various similar studies have shown correlation between societal income disparity and problems such as crime, obesity, drug addiction, mental illness, reliance on conspiracy theories, and distrust of the government.

People in the U.S. are currently in the awkward situation of turning to a very wealthy president to cure affluenza who himself exhibits symptoms of it.


Inequality: an underacknowledged source of mental illness and distress
Kate E. Pickett, Richard G. Wilkinson
The British Journal of Psychiatry Nov 2010, 197 (6) 426-428

Inequality: an underacknowledged source of mental illness and distress

From the article:

"Why do more people tend to have mental health problems in more unequal places? Psychologist Oliver James uses an analogy with infectious disease to explain the link. What James terms the ‘affluenza’ virus is a ‘ set of values which increase our vulnerability to emotional distress’, and he argues that these values are more common in affluent societies. They entail placing a high value on acquiring money and possessions, looking good in the eyes of others and wanting to be famous. He goes on to argue that these values increase the risk of depression, anxiety, substance misuse and personality disorder.

Philosopher Alain de Botton claims that our anxiety about our social status is ‘a worry so pernicious as to be capable of ruining extended stretches of our lives’. When we fail to maintain our position in the social hierarchy we are ‘ condemned to consider the successful with bitterness and ourselves with shame’.

Economist Robert Frank calls the same phenomenon ‘luxury fever’. As inequality increases and the super rich at the top spend more and more on luxury goods, the desire for such things cascades down the income scale and the rest of us struggle to compete and keep up. Advertisers play on this, making us dissatisfied with what we have, and encouraging invidious social comparisons – more unequal societies spend more in advertising.

Economist Richard Layard describes us as having an ‘addiction to income’ – the more we have, the more we feel we need and the more time we spend on striving for material wealth and possessions, at the expense of our family life, relationships and quality of life."

 

This seems to make sense. Alain de Botton was however already very rich before he started writing, having inherited several millions from his family, so he wouldn't have experienced this himself.

It also explains the immense level of consumer borrowing in the affluent World, amongst low and middle income peoples.

 

I've been recommending the book The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better by Richard G. Wilkinson and Kate Pickett for years, it getting a bit old know (things in many place are worse).