Unhealthy Societies

Among developed countries it is not the richest societies that have the best health, but those that have the smallest income differences between rich and poor. Why? This book shows that social cohesion is crucial to the quality of life.

Richard G. Wilkinson is Senior Research Fellow at The Trafford Centre for Medical Research, University of Sussex.

Chapter 1. Introduction The Health of Societies Chapter 2. Health becomes a social science Chapter 3. Rising life expectancy and the epidemiological transition Health Inequalities Within Societies Chapter 4. The problem of health inequalities Chapter 5. Income distribution and health, Social Cohesion and Social Conflict Chapter 6. A small town in the USA, war-time Britain, Eastern Europe and Japan Chapter 7. An anthropology of social cohesion Chapter 8. The symptoms of disintegration How Society Kills Chapter 9. The psycho-social causes of illness Chapter 10. Baboons, Civil Servants and children's height Redistribution, Economic Growth and the Quality of Life Chapter 11. Social capital: putting Humpty together again