Equality

by White, Stuart

• ISBN13: 9780745627748
• ISBN10: 0745627749
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-12-08
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

This highly accessible book provides an engaging introduction to the concept of equality and to the debates, historical and contemporary, that surround it. It explains and critically considers how the demand for equality arises in different spheres.

Author Biography

Stuart White is Fellow and Tutor in Politics at Jesus College, Oxford.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	vii
Acknowledgements	viii
1 The Demand for Equality	1
1.1 Forms of equality	4
1.2 Forms of value	14
2 Democracy	25
2.1 Natural aristocracy and the mixed constitution	26
2.2 The social contract and political equality	33
2.3 Why democracy?	42
2.4 Majority tyranny: two protective strategies	47
3 Meritocracy	53
3.1 Why meritocracy?	54
3.2 Weak meritocracy	56
3.3 Strong meritocracy	59
3.4 How meritocratic is contemporary society?	64
3.5 Against meritocracy 1: threat to liberty	68
3.6 Against meritocracy 2: status inequality	71
3.7 Against meritocracy 3: incoherence	74
3.8 Against meritocracy 4: unfair to the less talented	75
4 Luck Egalitarianism	78
4.1 'Equality of resources'	79
4.2 Resources versus capabilities?	84
4.3 Against luck egalitarianism 1: threat to liberty	89
4.4 Against luck egalitarianism 2: social and political inequality	92
5 Equality and Incentives	98
5.1 Incentives and inequality: three views	99
5.2 Defending the difference principle	102
5.3 The question of work ethos	110
5.4 Moral incentives in a market economy	115
5.5 Economic equality: a provisional summary	118
6 Equality and Difference	120
6.1 Gender difference	121
6.2 Cultural difference	127
6.3 The exemptions debate	133
6.4 Democracy revisited	138
7 The Future of Equality	141
7.1 Must equality go global?	142
7.2 The pessimist's case	150
7.3 The optimist's case	154
Notes	160
Bibliography	174
Index	191