Notes on chapter 7: class acts in Richard Wilkinson's and Kate Pickett's book The inner level: how
more equal societies reduce stress, restore sanity and improve everybody's wellbeing
differences in personal styles, conduct and behaviour are often taken as markers of
class differences
n the thirteenth century, Bonvicino da Riva wrote an etiquette book – Fifty Table
Courtesies – to provide advice on ‘proper’ behaviour (such as not blowing ur nose on a
tablecloth during meals)
Mid 16 century giovanni della casa said “it is unmannerly to suck back saliva”
Norbet elias book “the civilizing process 1939” says the notions of ‘acceptable
behaviour’ were shaped by class distinctions, social aspirations, shame and
embarrassment.
Elias - ‘The feeling of shame is a kind of anxiety, fear of social degradation or of
other people’s gestures of superiority’
Once hygiene was understood class was often associated with it
Different layers of society continue to be so strongly marked by differences in
manners, style and aesthetic
sociologists began to think that social class divisions had transformed into
something less to do with occupation and more to do with a sense of identity
struggle for status is heightened in societies with larger income differences.
Interviews show that children from poorer backgrounds feel ashamed when friends
who live in posher houses come to their homes
bullying between children may be as much as ten times as common in countries with
bigger income differences
One study combined data from 28 separate pieces of research that looked at
bullying among a total of almost 350,000 children in North America, Europe and
Australia.370 It found that while bullies came from all classes, their victims were more
likely to be poor.
Appreciation and knowledge of the arts, classical music and literature is associated
with upper class
Princess and the pea ‘Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.’
Research has shown that the popularity of, and participation in, the arts is
substantially reduced in societies with bigger income difference
Museums and art galleries are much more popular in more equal countries
many studies have shown how strongly social class and ethnicity bias our
judgements of people
there is a tendency to assume that those who appear to be from lower classes are
less capable and less trustworthy
Although discrimination by race, gender, disability and sexuality has continued to
decline, other forms have been reinvigorated.
the history of colonialism is full of such assumptions of superiority and inferiority.
Wherever colonizers encountered less technologically sophisticated cultures, they
assumed that the populations in those societies were inherently less intelligent.
more equal societies reduce stress, restore sanity and improve everybody's wellbeing
differences in personal styles, conduct and behaviour are often taken as markers of
class differences
n the thirteenth century, Bonvicino da Riva wrote an etiquette book – Fifty Table
Courtesies – to provide advice on ‘proper’ behaviour (such as not blowing ur nose on a
tablecloth during meals)
Mid 16 century giovanni della casa said “it is unmannerly to suck back saliva”
Norbet elias book “the civilizing process 1939” says the notions of ‘acceptable
behaviour’ were shaped by class distinctions, social aspirations, shame and
embarrassment.
Elias - ‘The feeling of shame is a kind of anxiety, fear of social degradation or of
other people’s gestures of superiority’
Once hygiene was understood class was often associated with it
Different layers of society continue to be so strongly marked by differences in
manners, style and aesthetic
sociologists began to think that social class divisions had transformed into
something less to do with occupation and more to do with a sense of identity
struggle for status is heightened in societies with larger income differences.
Interviews show that children from poorer backgrounds feel ashamed when friends
who live in posher houses come to their homes
bullying between children may be as much as ten times as common in countries with
bigger income differences
One study combined data from 28 separate pieces of research that looked at
bullying among a total of almost 350,000 children in North America, Europe and
Australia.370 It found that while bullies came from all classes, their victims were more
likely to be poor.
Appreciation and knowledge of the arts, classical music and literature is associated
with upper class
Princess and the pea ‘Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.’
Research has shown that the popularity of, and participation in, the arts is
substantially reduced in societies with bigger income difference
Museums and art galleries are much more popular in more equal countries
many studies have shown how strongly social class and ethnicity bias our
judgements of people
there is a tendency to assume that those who appear to be from lower classes are
less capable and less trustworthy
Although discrimination by race, gender, disability and sexuality has continued to
decline, other forms have been reinvigorated.
the history of colonialism is full of such assumptions of superiority and inferiority.
Wherever colonizers encountered less technologically sophisticated cultures, they
assumed that the populations in those societies were inherently less intelligent.
