Richard G. Wilkinson

Richard Gerald Wilkinson (born 1943) is a British social epidemiologist, author and advocate. He is Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, having retired in 2008. He is also Honorary Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London and Visiting Professor at University of York. In 2009, Richard co-founded The Equality Trust. Richard was awarded a 2013 Silver Rose Award from Solidar for championing equality and the 2014 Charles Cully Memorial Medal by the Irish Cancer Society.

He is best known for his book with Kate Pickett The Spirit Level, first published in 2009, which argues that societies with more equal distribution of incomes have better health, fewer social problems such as violence, drug abuse, teenage births, mental illness, obesity, and others, and are more cohesive than ones in which the gap between the rich and poor is greater.

Background

Richard Wilkinson was educated at Leighton Park School and Reading Technical College. He studied economic history at the London School of Economics. He then earned a Masters at the University of Pennsylvania. His University of Nottingham Masters of Medical Science thesis was "Socio-economic Factors in Mortality Differentials" (1976).

Career

Wilkinson's first book, Poverty and Progress was published by Methuen in 1973. He was a research student on a Health Education Council fellowship at the Department of Community Health, University of Nottingham and spent a year on a large-scale computer analysis of the possible causes of different health outcomes and social strata.

On 16 December 1976, his article entitled 'Dear David Ennals' was published in New Society; at that time, David Ennals was Secretary of State for Social Services. The article led eventually to the 1980 publication of the Black Report on Inequalities in Health. He was also Senior Research Fellow at the Trafford Centre for Medical Research of the University of Sussex in 2001.

Wilkinson retired from his post as a professor of social epidemiology at the University of Nottingham in 2008. He was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor. He is also Honorary Professor at University College London. In 2009 Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett founded the Equality Trust, which seeks to explain the benefits of a more equal society and campaigns for greater income equality.

Publications

Books

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•   Four volume set.

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  • Adapted as the 2016 documentary film The Divide. Wilkinson and Picket each appear as commentators.

Articles and papers

•   Discussion paper 17.
• Wilkinson, Richard G. (2002). Germany, Britan & the coming of War in 1914. History Review. Issue 42 March 2002
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Other

• Further journal articles listed and some downloadable at Scientific Commons
• Some further titles are listed here.
• 2008 Eve Saville Memorial Lecture: "Inequality: The obstacle between us", at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London School of Law.
• Appearance in 2011 documentary, "Zeitgeist: Moving Forward" on YouTube

Personal

Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, the authors of The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, are a couple.

Notes and references