tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post374987645741272492..comments2024-03-19T02:14:31.704-04:00Comments on <center>OnFiction</center>: Fantasy or Therapy?Keith Oatleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16419339550879570935noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5455277388900637928.post-6365636844706784582011-05-10T19:32:22.362-04:002011-05-10T19:32:22.362-04:00Keith, I enjoyed this and I was very glad to see y...Keith, I enjoyed this and I was very glad to see you making use of "The Spirit Level" in this way. This idea that there can be, so to speak, false sympathy or illusions of sharing a common humanity seems to me to have broad application. <br />One of the striking aspects of Wilkinson and Pickett's analysis is their suggestion that a diversity of phenomena have origins in inequality. That suggests that many aspects of USA culture are reflections of that underlying cause; the possibility of describing in detail what that means at an experiential level seems very much like a fit task for a novelist. (I could never attempt that because I feel myself too much an outsider in this country.)<br />--Mark L.<br /><br />PS: When it comes to describing the USA (which means as well cataloguing its ills) I think that another invaluable source is Erik Olin Wright and Joel Rogers, "American Society: How It Really Works", WW Norton, 2011. (While that was not the advertised goal, I see "The Spirit Level" as an argument that Europe is, in general, a better place to live than The United States.)formerly a wage slavehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16064562730082906589noreply@blogger.com