The Broken Ladder

Keith Payne

The Broken Ladder

19min

19min

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Inequality makes us feel poorer than we really are, and that influences how we behave and how we think, which leads to us living a generally unhealthy life in which we struggle to feel satisfied with what we have. In The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die, Keith Payne explains, in detail, how inequality works, how today’s society ended up in its current situation, and what we can do to combat the harmful effects of inequality. A certain degree of inequality is normal in a society such as ours, but today it has reached unprecedented levels.

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Analysis and key concepts

01.

Poverty and inequality have a similar effect on people: they are both extremely harmful

02.

Inequality makes us feel poor and behave like as if we were poor even when we are not

03.

The social ladder is a reflection of people’s perception of their social status

04.

Climbing the social ladder these days is like climbing a mountain

05.

To get a better understanding of how poverty and inequality work, we must first understand human nature

06.

Inequality leads to living fast and dying young

07.

Inequality also influences religion and the perception of racism

08.

Work is the most common place where people experience inequality, day-in, day-out.

09.

Learning how inequality works enables us to live with dignity in an increasingly vertical world

10.

Quotes

11.

Take-home message

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Many useful tips to:

  • Understand what equality is and how it impacts our lives.
  • Appreciate why feeling poor makes us act as if we really were poor.
  • Learn to improve the environment in which we live.

Keith Payne is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His academic research focuses on how inequality shapes the human mind, how our environment affects our decision-making processes, how racial prejudice is at the heart of our actions despite our best intentions, and why feeling poor is more impactful than actually being poor. His research has been written about in many publications, including The Atlantic, The New York Times, Scientific American and Psychology Today.

Publishing house:

Penguin Books

Year:

2018

Pages:

256

ISBN:

978-0143128908