How messy it all is
David Runciman: Who benefits from equality?
Comment on:
The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better
by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett
Available at: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n20/runc01_.html
“……There is enough evidence here that equality is a good thing to be able to take it on faith, and to move away from evidence-based politics towards a politics that is, for want of a better word, more ideological. Wilkinson and Pickett are committed to evidence-based politics because they seem to feel that ideology has had its day. ‘Political differences are more a reflection of different beliefs about the solution to problems than of disagreements about what the problems are,’ they write. ‘Almost everyone, regardless of their politics, would prefer to live in a safer and more friendly society.’ But they also reveal a hankering for something more. ‘For several decades progressive politics have been seriously weakened by the loss of any concept of a better society. People have argued for piecemeal improvements in different areas of life . . .
But nowhere is there a popular movement capable of inspiring people with a vision of how to make society a substantially better place to live for the vast majority. Without that vision, politics will rarely provoke more than a yawn.’ More equality is a good thing and it’s an idea that’s worth defending. It would be nice if there were more politicians willing to stand up and defend it, however they saw fit. That may be wishful thinking. But so too is the idea of an evidence-based politics, which just opens the door to all the prevarications of joined-up thinking…..”
David Runciman teaches politics at
He is the author of Pluralism and the Personality of the State, The Politics of Good Intentions and Political Hypocrisy.
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