on inequality

David Rock:

The bottom line is that increasing status and fairness gaps in society are creating daily danger responses for vast numbers of people. While those at the top feel pretty good, the rest feel very bad (remember that ‘bad’ is stronger than ‘good’). To mitigate this feeling, we eat more, drink more, do more foolish things and die younger. The increased cortisol that occurs when we experience threat reduces immune function, damages tissues and even inhibits memory formation. An increased threat response also reduces creativity, our ability to control impulses, and even, our overall ability to process new information.

Advertisement