How would you define equality? Do we have equality today? Is society becoming more equal or less equal?

 

• How would you define equality?

Equality is about ensuring that every individual has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents. 

It is also the belief that no one should have poorer life chances because of the way they were born, where they come from, what they believe, or whether they have a disability.

Equality recognizes that historically certain groups of people with protected characteristics such as race, disability, sex and sexual orientation have experienced discrimination. 

• Do we have equality today? Is society becoming more equal or less equal?

At the beginning of the 20th century most affluent countries were similarly unequal, and then became similarly equal by the middle decades of that century, so it was very difficult to ascertain what specific effects could be associated with different degrees of inequality and equality. However, since the 1970s the affluent countries of the world have diverged. Because of that divergence we are now able to quantify what the effects of varying levels of economic equality appear to be.

It was 44 years ago, in 1973, that inequalities in the US reached an all-time low - at this point, the richest one per cent of people earned only 7.7 times the average US wage - a remarkably high level of economic equality. The table above shows the earliest and latest records on inequality in 12 major countries as well as highest and lowest points achieved since those records started being collected.

Britain was even more equitable than the US in the 1970s and peak equality lasted a little longer. I grew up in that era of much greater equality in the UK. I was 10 years old in 1978 when the rich were least rich, when the best-off one per cent earned only 5.7 times the average income. By 2007, that figure had risen to 15.4 times. Almost every year since I was aged 10 I have watched the very rich get even richer and, immediately below them, the affluent take more and more of what was left. This has left less and less for most people, especially for the poorest, whose numbers have grown. The somewhat heartless statistics in the table above tell a story both of the relentless growth of inequality in some rich countries, and of other countries choosing to keep levels of income inequality comparatively low.

If you have lived through the last four decades in the US, Canada or the UK, then simply by observing what has happened around you it looked (until very recently) as if the best-off would always take more and more. You might have concluded that, if you didn't join them, or at least begin to behave like them, your life and those of your children would suffer.

But look again at the table above and you'll see that the same trend of ever-rising inequality hardly applied at all in the Netherlands, Sweden or France over this same time period. There is greed and corruption everywhere - but it is better controlled in some countries than in others.

Today even rightwing politicians sometimes talk of wanting to increase economic equality. They often express their concern for those 'left behind' economically, but it is hard to see any evidence that they are interested in much more than the votes of such people. However, the fact that they have changed how they talk demonstrates a more widespread change in our common understanding. Their immediate predecessors talked of 'rewarding talent', 'a rising tide lifting all boats', 'allowing the tall poppies to bloom' to the supposed (but not actual) benefit of all. Now even the perpetrators of growing inequality claim they are against it, but they do not admit to their own complicity in creating, maintaining and even increasing it.

The tide may be turning again towards greater economic equality, but the case for it needs to be made clearer - otherwise rightwingers will again subvert the argument. They will claim they are against inequality while quietly promoting a rebranded version of it.

The case for greater equality is not just the reverse of the case against income and wealth inequality. Gaining greater equality has a set of particular positive effects on a society; we can call this 'the equality effect'. Greater economic equality makes us all less stupid, less fearful and more satisfied with life. It may bring even greater benefits than that. We are not sure because we have tolerated immense inequality for so long that we can't be sure of all that is possible when we eventually do treat each other with economic respect.

The evidence of this positive equality effect is now overwhelming. But the message has not yet got through to most politicians and to the wider electorates to which they respond. Getting that message across is a job for all of us.