Impact on Wider Society Lesson 18 Understanding how
- Slides: 8
Impact on Wider Society Lesson 18
• Understanding how inequality affects society Learning Intentions
Introduction • In 2009 Wilkinson and Pickett wrote a book entitled “The Spirit Level” in which they demonstrated that when there are high levels of social and economic inequality in a country, then that whole country suffers from higher levels of social problems such as depression, violent crime and obesity.
Obesity • Britain is the most obese nation in Western Europe, with rates rising faster than any other developed nation. • Obesity rates have doubled over the past two decades, and 63% of UK adults are overweight, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). • Obesity means higher risk of chronic illnesses, particularly hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases – all of which have a high cost for the NHS. • Up to age 54, women are more likely to be obese than men. • Obesity costs the NHS more than £ 6 billion per year.
Mental Health • Inequality in the UK causes high levels of mental ill health across the whole country, but people from BAME backgrounds are: • more likely to be diagnosed with mental health problems • more likely to be diagnosed and admitted to hospital • more likely to experience a poor outcome from treatment • more likely to disengage from mainstream mental health services, leading to social exclusion and a deterioration in their mental health. • Mental health issues among black men are often ignored, until that person commits a crime – rather than being diagnosed and treated as more generally happens among white people.
Example • Children and adults living in households in the lowest 20% income bracket in Great Britain are two to three times more likely to develop mental health problems than those in the highest.
Violent Crime • Higher levels of crime caused by inequalities can have an impact on wider society • Some groups in society might be labelled as criminal, and blamed for everything that goes wrong in society. Police stop and searches of young black men are seven times the rate of young white men. • Hate crimes might take place against the group – the number of attacks in Britain since the Brexit vote have increased significantly. • This leads to anger and resentment building up amongst the groups.
Example – hate crimes • There has been a 10% rise in hate crimes recorded by police in England Wales. • There were a record 103, 379 offences in 2018 -19, • Race hate crimes accounted for around threequarters of offences (78, 991) and rose by 11% on the previous year. • Transgender hate crime went up 37% to 2, 333. For sexual orientation the rise was 25% to 14, 491, for disability 14% to 8, 256 and for religion 3% to 8, 566.
