The Sage
In recent decades, evidence has piled up that human health and happiness is significantly affected by our place in the pecking order. Social epidemiologists such as Michael Marmot and the authors of The Spirit Level, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, have done the most to convert what was once a surprising theory into something now widely accepted as fact.
The theory that status influences well-being has plenty of critics. But even if it is true, it is not clear what we should do in response. Too often it is assumed that if status is shown to affect how people feel across the globe, then we have to accept that as an immutable fact. What is normal or typical, however, is not always desirable or unchangeable.