Pinboard (robertogreco) https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/public/ recent bookmarks from robertogreco Grievance Poisoning in the First Degree - by Hamilton Nolan 2026-04-19T21:05:31+00:00 https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/grievance-poisoning-in-the-first robertogreco alexkarp palantir hamiltonnolan bigtech billionaires egotism 2026 georgewill allanbloom evil sociopaths socippathy fascism neofascism pluralism us inclusivity inclusion religion wealth inequality power siliconvalley israel palestine weapons genocide ethniccleansing money patriotism victimhood philosophy wittegenstein consciousness fame criticsm californianideology supremacy society https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:b5606237dd74/ Army of Altruists | The Anarchist Library 2020-09-06T04:24:02+00:00 https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-graeber-army-of-altruists robertogreco davidgraeber altruism 2007 us elections egotism charity charities philanthropicindustrialcomplex generosity government politics elitism johnkerry democrats republicans nobility military service resentment truth beauty aesthetics purpose highered highereducation values ngos radicalism inequality wealth poverty economics policy opportunity socialmobility georgewbush 2004 liberalism progressives progressive progressivism egoism kennedys patriotism dostoevsky charitableindustrialcomplex philanthropy https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:2baff2ca12aa/ The Equality Trust | Working to improve the quality of life in the UK by reducing economic inequality 2018-08-20T04:51:04+00:00 https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/ robertogrecoThe Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better[1] is a book by Richard G. Wilkinson and Kate Pickett,[2] published in 2009 by Allen Lane. The book is published in the US by Bloomsbury Press (December, 2009) with the new sub-title: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger.[3] It was then published in a paperback second edition (United Kingdom) in November 2010 by Penguin Books with the subtitle, Why Equality is Better for Everyone.[4] The book argues that there are "pernicious effects that inequality has on societies: eroding trust, increasing anxiety and illness, (and) encouraging excessive consumption".[5] It claims that for each of eleven different health and social problems: physical health, mental health, drug abuse, education, imprisonment, obesity, social mobility, trust and community life, violence, teenage pregnancies, and child well-being, outcomes are significantly worse in more unequal countries, whether rich or poor.[1] The book contains graphs that are available online.[6] In 2010, the authors published responses to questions about their analysis on the Equality Trust website.[7] As of September 2012, the book had sold more than 150,000 copies in English.[8] It is available in 23 foreign editions. "The Spirit Level authors: why society is more unequal than ever" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/09/society-unequal-the-spirit-level [follow-up book] "The Inner Level: How More Equal Societies Reduce Stress, Restore Sanity and Improve Everyone’s Wellbeing" https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/188607/the-inner-level/
Why is the incidence of mental illness in the UK twice that in Germany? Why are Americans three times more likely than the Dutch to develop gambling problems? Why is child well-being so much worse in New Zealand than Japan? As this groundbreaking study demonstrates, the answer to all these hinges on inequality. In The Spirit Level Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett put inequality at the centre of public debate by showing conclusively that less-equal societies fare worse than more equal ones across everything from education to life expectancy. The Inner Level now explains how inequality affects us individually, how it alters how we think, feel and behave. It sets out the overwhelming evidence that material inequalities have powerful psychological effects: when the gap between rich and poor increases, so does the tendency to define and value ourselves and others in terms of superiority and inferiority. A deep well of data and analysis is drawn upon to empirically show, for example, that low social status is associated with elevated levels of stress, and how rates of anxiety and depression are intimately related to the inequality which makes that status paramount. Wilkinson and Pickett describe how these responses to hierarchies evolved, and why the impacts of inequality on us are so severe. In doing so, they challenge the conception that humans are innately competitive and self-interested. They undermine, too, the idea that inequality is the product of 'natural' differences in individual ability. This book sheds new light on many of the most urgent problems facing societies today, but it is not just an index of our ills. It demonstrates that societies based on fundamental equalities, sharing and reciprocity generate much higher levels of well-being, and lays out the path towards them.
"Does inequality cause suicide, drug abuse and mental illness?" https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2018/06/14/does-inequality-cause-suicide-drug-abuse-and-mental-illness "“The Inner Level” seeks to push that debate forward, by linking inequality to a crisis of mental health. This time the authors’ argument focuses on status anxiety: stress related to fears about individuals’ places in social hierarchies. Anxiety declines as incomes rise, they show, but is higher at all levels in more unequal countries—to the extent that the richest 10% of people in high-inequality countries are more socially anxious than all but the bottom 10% in low-inequality countries. Anxiety contributes to a variety of mental-health problems, including depression, narcissism and schizophrenia—rates of which are alarming in the West, the authors say, and rise with inequality. Manifestations of mental illness, such as self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse and problem gambling, all seem to get worse with income dispersion, too. Such relationships seem to apply within countries as well as between them. Damaging drug use is higher in more unequal neighbourhoods of New York City, in more unequal American states and in more unequal countries. The authors emphasise that it is a person’s relative position rather than absolute income that matters most. A study of 30,000 Britons found that an individual’s place in the income hierarchy predicted the incidence of mental stress more accurately than absolute income did. And in America, relative income is more closely linked to depression than absolute income. It is not enough to lift all boats, their work suggests, if the poshest vessels are always buoyed up more than the humblest. The fact that relative status matters so much is a result of human beings’ intrinsically social nature, Ms Pickett and Mr Wilkinson argue. Group interaction and co-operation have been an essential component of humanity’s evolutionary success; indeed, the authors say, its social nature helped drive the growth of human brains. Across primates, they write, the size of the neocortex—a part of the brain responsible for higher-level cognitive functions—varies with the typical group size of a species. Living in complex social groups is hard cognitive work. Survival requires an understanding of roles within the social hierarchy, and intuition of what others are thinking. Thus people are necessarily sensitive to their status within groups, and to social developments that threaten it. Such hierarchies are found in all human societies. But as inequality rises, differences in status become harder to ignore. There is more to be gained or lost by moving from one rung on the ladder to another. And however much some maintain that disparities in pay-cheques do not correspond to differences in human worth, such well-meaning pieties feel hollow when high-rollers earn hundreds or thousands of times what ordinary folk take home. Money cannot buy everything, but it can buy most things. The steeper the income gradient, the less secure everyone becomes, in both their self-respect and their sense of the community’s esteem. And so people compensate. They take pills, to steel their nerves or dull the pain. Some cut themselves. Some adopt a more submissive posture, avoiding contact with others. Yet such withdrawal can feed on itself, depriving recluses of the social interaction that is important to mental health, undermining relationships and careers and contributing to economic hardship. Others respond in the opposite way, by behaving more aggressively and egotistically. Studies of narcissistic tendencies showed a steep increase between 1982 and 2006, the authors report; 30% more Americans displayed narcissistic characteristics at the end of the period than at the beginning. Scrutiny of successive American cohorts found a progressive rise in those listing wealth and fame as important goals (above fulfilment and community). Over time, more people cited money as the main motivation for attending college (rather than intellectual enrichment). Domineering responses to anxiety are associated with loss of empathy and delusions of grandeur. Thus highly successful people often display narcissistic or even psychopathic behaviour. In surveys, the rich are generally less empathetic and more likely to think they deserve special treatment than others. Modern capitalism, the authors suggest, selects for assertiveness, for a lack of sentimentality in business and comfort in sacking underlings, and for showy displays of economic strength. From the top to the bottom of the income spectrum, people use conspicuous consumption and other means of enhancing their image to project status. The least secure are often the most likely to exaggerate their qualities. For example, countries with lower average life-expectancy tend to do better on measures of self-reported health; 54% of Japanese say they are in good health compared with 80% of Americans, though the Japanese live five years longer on average. Whereas 70% of Swedes consider themselves to be above-average drivers, 90% of Americans do. Such figures cast declamations of America’s greatness, and the politicians who make them, in a new light." "The Inner Level review – how more equal societies reduce stress and improve wellbeing" https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/20/the-inner-level-review ] [via: https://www.instagram.com/p/BmquJ7Ngvme/ ]]]> equality inequality society trust anxiety well-being stress mentalhealth uk economics community socialmobility class education drugs drugabuse health violence illness consumption hierarchy horizontality mentalillness status self-harm gambling depression narcissism schizophrenia relativity excess cooperation egotism selfishness empathy dunning–krugereffect greatness politics lifeexpectancy japan sweden us driving capitalism latecapitalism fame fulfillment money motivation colleges universities exceptionalism assertiveness aggressiveness richardwilkinson katepickett growth erichfromm wellbeing latestagecapitalism https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:83c2ba12cb5a/ On leadership and innovation: 'dogma has no place in university culture' | Higher Education Network | Guardian Professional 2012-07-17T02:02:21+00:00 http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2012/jul/16/miguel-escotet-on-university-leadership robertogreco management administration policy politics tcsnmy edreform authoritarianism participation hierarchy control power egotism flexibility ignorance intellectualvanity innovation leadership certainty uncertainty knowledge ethics highereducation highered 2012 miguelangelescotet https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:eea3c68269be/ Chronocentrism - Wikipedia 2012-02-15T03:36:09+00:00 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronocentrism robertogreco chronocentricity egotism perspective chronocentrism classideas history https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:307aec31cc7c/ The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table - Magazine - The Atlantic 2010-12-20T05:15:46+00:00 http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1858/04/the-autocrat-of-the-breakfast-table/4375/ robertogreco oliverwendellholmes creativity genius friendship intellect intelligence love relationships egotism attention understanding empathy 1858 https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:a89a556a7bc6/