Claire Mathys discusses the widening gap

Claire Mathys

A couple of weeks ago the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development published a study showing that inequality is rising faster in Britain than in any other country. The average income of the top 10% of the population is 12 times higher than the poorest 10%, up from 8 times higher 25 years ago. As the gap between rich and poor continues to grow with no sign of slowing, we have to ask ourselves some serious questions. What will our society look like in 20 years' time, or 50 years' time, if we continue on the same trajectory? Are we happy to let ourselves continue on that path, or should we do something about it now so that we start moving towards a more equal society?

There is a tendency to think that inequality is only bad for those who are poor, left at the bottom of the competitive struggle for wealth. Perhaps that is why many people seem bothered about poverty, but not that concerned about inequality. But there is plenty of research which shows that unequal societies are bad for everyone in them, whether rich or poor, or somewhere in between.

'The Spirit Level' by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett looks at how 23 developed countries fare on a whole range of different aspects. There are some dramatic findings - the more unequal a society, the worse the problems of mental illness, drug abuse, imprisonment, infant mortality, low life expectancy and obesity. Pervasive throughout an unequal society is social anxiety, the worry of being judged by others, the feeling of insecurity about status and low self-esteem, as people strive to be valued in a consumerist, market-driven environment. The UK, the USA and Portugal have some of the largest gaps between rich and poor, and in these places it is hardest to move up the income ladder if you start off poor.

But even those at the richest end of the spectrum are not necessarily happy living in a society where they are comparatively very wealthy, and must strive to maintain that position.

Libby Caudwell, daughter of Phones4u entrepreneur and billionaire, John Caudwell, described in the Evening Standard her struggles of living up to the expectations put on her from a high achieving family: 'I am aware every day that anything less than extraordinary is frankly unacceptable. I don't always feel up to it, worthy of it, capable of it...in fact I wish it would all go away so I could just feel proud of myself for getting a job'.

So whether we are at the top of an unequal society, or the bottom, it's far from ideal - we either feel the pressures of having to keep up at the top, or the pressures of struggling to get by at the bottom. If we're in the middle, we live in a society where there is less trust, more pressure on health services and where many people are priced out of the housing market altogether.

Christians rarely need convincing of the call to help the poor; but the need to tackle inequality does not always feature so prominently. Yet if it lowers social mobility and increases the health and social problems in society - the sorts of problems that churches and Christian organisations seek to tackle every day - should we not be more concerned to do something about it?

We can all play our part in creating the society we want. When relationships are built across wealth divisions, when there is generosity between neighbours, it flies in the face of the competitive market economy that we live in and orientates us towards community.

We also need Christians who are motivated by a deep sense of justice to get involved in politics, stand for election, and seek to make a difference at a national level to shape our society for the future. There are plenty of political ideas out there for addressing inequality, from raising the tax threshold, to a mansion tax, to co-operatives. We need people who are prepared to put up with the endless meetings and the bad press associated with politics for the sake of changing society for the better.

There are people experimenting with new ways of doing things all over the UK. The Streatham-based charity 'Music 4 Children' pay all their employees the same wage, from the most senior to the most junior. But there is no one solution to inequality. We need to start with an awareness of its scale and consequences, and let that shape the decisions we make both personally and nationally.