p. 26 Perhaps because people tend to imagine that human beings have always lived in hierarchical societies, we rarely, if ever, stop to imagine what it would be like to belong to a community of near equals, free of the insecurities caused by class and status divisions. We assume that the only way to regain the confidence and social ease which we lack would be to increase our own status … in tribal societies without settled agriculture, in which people live in non-hierarchical communities, several studies have shown that blood pressure shows no tendency to rise with age… That was true even when comparisons were adjusted for the effects on blood pressure of things like diet, salt intake an obesity… recorded changes in blood pressure among nuns living in a closed order in Italy. Though they were eating much the same diet as the rest of the local population, the study found the had no rise in blood pressure as they aged during a 20-year follow-up period.”
p. 27 “people living in countries with bigger income differences between rich and poor are more prone to status anxiety. Regardless of individual income levels, people in more unequal societies became more worried about how they are seen and judged … particularly strong effects on people’s levels of stress hormones. … some people feel that social life is a constant battle with low self-esteem. Lacking in confidence and overcome by extreme shyness, they tend to withdraw from social life and often become depressed… the other common response is almost the opposite. Many people respond … by projecting an exaggeratedly positive view of themselves, apparently to conceal their self-doubt. Modesty .. tends to be replaced by narcissism and a kind of self-enhancement or self-promotion.”
p. 29 “it is mistaken to think that the hierarchy in the societies we analyse is meritocratic, ordering people by inherent ability … brain imaging techniques and our growing knowledge of the malleability of the human brain, have made it clear that the most important differences in ability result from an individual’s position in the social hierarchy, rather than being determinants of it.”
“Aspects of the cultural differences between classes seem to exist primarily to provide tests of status, almost for the purpose of identifying those who can be devalued and excluded.
“we can move towards a society which will cease to generate such intense and counterproductive feelings of insecurity and self-doubt by fostering a radical egalitarianism in terms of income class and power.”
p. 30 “however it is no longer possible to make suggestions of radical reform .. without also taking account of the urgent need for them to become environmentally sustainable”… “rather than having to tighten our belts and accept a deterioration in our real equality of life, we show that the key is to replace materialism – as a false source of wellbeing – with a way of life more fundamentally consistent with our human sociality.”
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