[blr246]

There is no such thing as a measure of the health of a society. Inequality is one of many indicators that can help you predict the social stability and quality of life achievable in a particular society.

Inequality is important because of the studied link between peace and prosperity. Individual participants of a civilization give their social system power by buying into a social contract that their (mostly) nonviolent participation secures them the necessities of life.

When we have natural disasters, we sometimes see the rupture of the social contract. Now, imagine that there's a continuum of levels of nonviolent participation depending on individual cost-benefit analyses occurring all of the time around you.

When inequality shifts so dramatically over just a generation or two, there's reason to be concerned that people's buy-in on the social contract might shift, too.