Egalitarian Theory Research Articles

Equal Opportunity and Luck: Empirical Exploration Using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

AbstractEquality of opportunity (EOp) is a broad category of egalitarian theories that has attracted considerable attention in recent decades. Empirical implementations of EOp primarily focus on the explained component of inequality, classifying determinants of the outcome (e.g., health) into effort—legitimate causes of inequality—and circumstance—illegitimate causes of inequality. Largely overlooked is unexplained variation, which in statistical analysis manifests as residuals and is often ignored as a statistical annoyance. The true random component of residuals is now often referred to as luck. In this paper, we propose the playing field framework that serves as a pragmatic test as to whether residuals signal unfairness in empirical EOp analyses and that enables empirical explorations of roles of luck within the EOp framework. Using a large sample of Canadian older adults, our empirical application of the playing field framework shows that distributions of residuals are not always fair, though there is no consistent pattern of unfairness across age-sex groups. The paper’s three main conclusions are: luck matters; luck should be explicitly incorporated in the EOp framework through the brute luck-effort characterization; and residuals are not just an innocuous statistical annoyance but can represent unfair inequality, and ignoring them can underestimate unfair inequality.

The Invisible Social Class: Relational Equality and Extreme Social Exclusion

In this article, I develop a novel relational egalitarian theory of social exclusion that explains how society fails to treat socially excluded individuals – such as people experiencing homelessness, individuals with substance use disorders and mental illness and sex workers – as equals. I argue that society places and keeps excluded individuals at the very bottom of the social status hierarchy by treating them as socially invisible, or by rendering them physically invisible, or both. The upshot, then, is that part of what is wrong with social exclusion is that it creates the invisible social class.

Women, Leadership, and Ordination in the Anglican Church in Nigeria

Paul’s injunction in 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 has often been used to restrict women from holding certain leadership positions in the Church. This paper examines 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 in light of the female ordination debate in the Anglican Church in Nigeria. Through an exegetical study of the text, Paul’s perspective on women is demystified. To understand the place of women in the Church using scriptural texts, this article examines the perspectives of egalitarian theory, complemen­tar­ian theory, and liberation theology. The latter is included because it aims at interpreting biblical texts in a liberational way — Scripture is meant to deliver humans from all kinds of bondage and not to enslave. Exegesis is accompanyied by an examination of leadership roles of women in Igbo Traditional Religion, in which women are recognized as priestesses. The place of women in leadership in Igbo Traditional religion is pertinent to this work. Biblical texts are necessarily interpreted from the perspectives of human experience — including African women’s experiences. This article discovers through exegetical study of 1 Corinthians 14:26–40 that Paul was correcting a problem in the Corinthian church rather than hindering women from participating in the worship service or serving as leaders in the church. The Church should thus stop using the text to silence women or restrict them from holding certain leadership positions.

Egalitarianism across Generations

AbstractEgalitarian theories assess when and why distributive inequalities are objectionable. How should egalitarians assess inequalities between generations? One egalitarian theory is (telic) distributive egalitarianism: other things being equal, equal distributions of some good are intrinsically better than unequal distributions. I first argue that distributive egalitarianism produces counterintuitive judgements when applied across generations and that attempts to discount or exclude intergenerational inequalities do not work. This being so, intergenerational comparisons also undercut the intragenerational judgements that made distributive egalitarianism intuitive in the first place. I then argue that egalitarians should shed distributive egalitarianism: relational and instrumental arguments against inequality likely suffice to capture egalitarian concerns – including across generations – without encountering the problems produced by distributive egalitarianism.

Liberalism’s Difficult Relationship with the Welfare State

This paper makes two related points. First, as liberals have started to realize that the welfare state is unable to deliver on egalitarian theories of justice, they have increasingly tried to dissociate their theories from the welfare state. Second, dissociating from the welfare state type of thinking is difficult for some liberal egalitarian theories such as John Rawls's theory of justice as his theory shares some of the same underlying thinking as found in the welfare state. For example, Rawls's understanding of universal citizenship and the difference principle resembles some of the aspects of the welfare state on how social equality and citizenship are tied to productivity and society as a venture of mutual cooperation. Consequently, liberals are caught in a difficult relationship where they can only partially move beyond the welfare state. Because of this affinity liberals should move beyond a Rawlsian framework, as Rawls's theory is difficult to completely dissociate from the welfare state.

Global egalitarianism and climate change: against integrationism

ABSTRACT A central question in debates about climate justice concerns how the global emissions sink should be shared among the global population over time. This paper considers how global egalitarians should answer that question. In particular, it defends emissions egalitarianism from a view known as ‘integrationism’, according to which shares of the emissions sink should follow from a more general egalitarian theory of distributive justice. First, I show that emissions egalitarianism can draw on a source of functional support not adequately acknowledged in the integrationist critique: it can express an underlying account of the structure of historical responsibility for climate change I call the Fair Share View. Second, I claim that integrationism is also in tension with other principles of responsibility for climate change, and that its scepticism about historical responsibility has not been appreciated. Finally, I provide an alternative to integrationism. My central claim is that integrationism posits too direct a relation between a theory of equality of wellbeing and practical questions about claims to the emissions sink. Egalitarians should appeal to a species of derivative principle I call ‘applied principles of global justice’, and emissions egalitarianism could plausibly be endorsed on these grounds.

Non-Additive Axiologies in Large Worlds

Is the overall value of a world just the sum of values contributed by each value-bearing entity in that world? Additively separable axiologies (like total utilitarianism, prioritarianism, and critical level views) say 'yes', but non-additive axiologies (like average utilitarianism, rank-discounted utilitarianism, and variable value views) say 'no'. This distinction appears to be practically important: among other things, additive axiologies generally assign great importance to large changes in population size, and therefore tend to strongly prioritize the long-term survival of humanity over the interests of the present generation. Non-additive axiologies, on the other hand, need not assign great importance to large changes in population size. We show, however, that when there is a large enough `background population' unaffected by our choices, a wide range of non-additive axiologies converge in their implications with additive axiologies—for instance, average utilitarianism converges with critical-level utilitarianism and various egalitarian theories converge with prioritarianism. We further argue that real-world background populations may be large enough to make these limit results practically significant. This means that arguments from the scale of potential future populations for the astronomical importance of avoiding existential catastrophe, and other arguments in practical ethics that seem to presuppose additive separability, may succeed in practice whether or not we accept additive separability as a basic axiological principle.

On the Egalitarian Value of Electoral Democracy

Within democratic theory, electoral competition is typically associated with minimalist and realist views of democracy. In contrast, this article argues for a reinterpretation of electoral competition as an important element of an egalitarian theory of democracy. Current relational egalitarian theories, in focusing on the equalization of individual power-over, present electoral institutions as in tension with equality. Against this view, the article contends that electoral competition can foster equality by incentivizing the equalization of cooperative power. The article develops the normative category of equal opportunity to access cooperative power and shows how it can generate an egalitarian defense of electoral competition. Yet this ideal is not an affirmation of the status quo. Rather, it points to the need to reform electoral systems to make them more competitive and so more likely to foster cooperative power, as well as reforms to provide direct support to associations like unions that equalize cooperative power.

Doxastic Affirmative Action

According to the relational egalitarian theory of justice, justice requires that people relate as equals. To relate as equals, many relational egalitarians argue, people must (i) regard each other as equals, and (ii) treat each other as equals. In this paper, we argue that, under conditions of background injustice, such relational egalitarians should endorse affirmative action in the ways in which (dis)esteem is attributed to people as part of the regard-requirement for relating as equals.

Capabilities approach and the marxist interpretation of the political conception of justice. reflections on the after-war restoration of Ukraine

Marxism as a normative position is critical of liberalism. However, the problems of justice and alienation that Marxism draws attention to can be solved by liberalism without the implementation of a Marxist political project. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the thesis that Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach (one of the versions of political liberalism) is a more inclusive and rational method of theorizing about the basic principles of justice than Marxism. By analyzing Elizabeth Anderson's theory of liberal egalitarianism "democratic equality", I show that some of Marxist approaches that (1) do not deny the existence of justice and (2) are concerned with the problem of alienation, can apply the arsenal of the moral theory of political liberalism to solve these problems. I also criticize Rawls's and Nussbaum's theories of political liberalism for their procedural vagueness and non-inclusive theory of justice. I present an outline of my position, which I propose to call «extended political liberalism» (hereafter EPL). EPL is currently represented by two arguments: 1) the paideia argument and 2) the argument of the interdependence of the good and the right. The first allows talking about the actual implementation of basic rights and freedoms only when citizens are aware of them and have the opportunity to change their views regarding the personal conception of the good. This is impossible without qualitative basic education. Also, one of the central concepts of EPL is presented within the framework of Paideia's argument - the interpretation of the political conception of justice. Because of this concept, it makes sense to talk about the possibility of citizens' reflection on the reconciliation of the current political conception with the personal conception of the good. This can also be done through the analysis of other conceptions of the good. The second argument is a continuation of the first, appearing as a theoretical mechanism that allows supplementing the existing political conception in case of serious social changes. In conclusion, if we take into account the advantages of the capabilities approach and my criticism of its weaknesses, then a theoretical position will emerge that is quite acceptable to some representatives of Marxism. Moreover, the latter will not have to give up their basic beliefs. The peculiarity of my concept presented in this text is that it is not so much a critique of Marxism as an analysis of the basic normative judgments of political liberalism, with which some Marxists can agree. With this article, I also want to illustrate the strengths of such a concept and point to its prospects for further attempts to interpret the political conception by other normative positions.

A Glimpse of Humanity and Inhumanity in the Films Pariyerum Perumal and Kanni Maadam

Cinema is an extensive platform for visualizing ideologies through entertainment and discussing issues artistically. Cinema plays a main role in human life like literature, painting, poetry, folk songs, etc. It is a tool to explore emotions created by filmmakers and stimulate them in the audience which is correspondingly a reflection of the society that speaks about massive issues like politics, history, relationships, adventure, etc. Over time cinema started to portray social injustices, especially by shedding light on marginalized communities. Cinemas mostly characterized Dalits as inferior neglecting their hardships but consequently started to represent their protest for identification and social equality. Contemporary young filmmakers in India are filling the space to speak caste politics honestly. This paper analyzes social inequality through select Tamil films, Pariyerum Perumal and Kanni Maadam, which articulated an extraordinary message by trying to picture the humanity and inhumanities displayed in the caste-practiced society. Humanity is one of the central elements that distinguish living from non-living. Exhibiting humanity in recent times is directly proportional to the necessities of the individual. In such a situation, an individual or community showing humanity to those who displayed inhumanity towards them is astounding. The select films explore the same by emphasizing how humanity displayed at the unexpected and undeserved moment can alter a person’s ego and change society virtuously. The paper also puts forth suggestions on how the marginalized can be uplifted and empowered by the theory of egalitarianism.

Relational egalitarianism and moral unequals

Relational egalitarianism and moral unequals

When is Equality Basic?

ABSTRACT In this paper we steer a course between two views of the value of equality that are usually understood as diametrically opposed to one another: on the one hand, the view that equality has intrinsic value; on the other, the view that equality is a normatively redundant notion. We proceed by analysing the different ways in which the equal possession of certain relevant properties justifies distributive equality. We then present an account of ‘basic equality’ that serves to single out where this equal possession is really doing normative work. Our account departs from some common assumptions about basic equality but is nevertheless plausible in as much as it assigns to that concept a precise and normatively significant role in grounding the non-instrumental value of distributive equality. By showing when, exactly, equality is basic, we are able to explain both what is right and what is wrong in each of the two opposed views of the value of equality. The argument proceeds at a fairly high level of abstraction and is therefore applicable to a number of rival egalitarian theories.

Государство всеобщего благосостояния: философско-правовой аспект

The doctrine of the welfare state is considered. The welfare state is a theory formulated by J. Keynes in the work “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money” (1936) and developed by J. Myrdal, J. Strechi, A. Pigou and others, in accordance with which the state is a spokesman for the interests of all sectors of society and: 1) has a positive impact on the private sector through regulation and control – price policy, taxes; 2) implements a policy of full employment and prevention of economic crises with the help of a planning and forecasting system; 3) implements the policy of social services – social security, social insurance assistance to sick and old people, etc., due to which a high standard of living of society is achieved. The welfare state can be characterized as a theory of social protection in oligarchic societies. The formation of the theory of the welfare state was influenced by human rights theories, socialist and egalitarian theories. The theoretical basis of the theory of the welfare state are welfare theories (from classical liberal to social welfare theory). A universal classification of the welfare state does not exist and cannot exist, because it is impossible to take into account all aspects due to the lack of relevant statistics and indicators. In our opinion, despite certain reservations, G. Esping-Andersen’s classification is the most successful attempt at a quantitative analysis of various models of social protection. It is based on an analysis of the signs of accessibility and the degree of coverage of the population with certain social payments and incomes, while taking into account the real influence of various political forces on this process. G. Esping-Andersen identified three main models: liberal, conservative, social democratic.

Adopting and Challenging Traditional Gender Roles in 90s Sitcom Friends

Sitcom has been worldwide famous since the 1950s. Friends is one of the most well-known sitcoms, telling the story of friends who lived in New York City during their youth. I will analyze gender roles issues in Friends. In this study, I will analyze how the six main characters adopt traditional gender roles and how the six main characters eventually challenge them. I use several theories, such as traits of traditional gender roles, theory of gender roles orientation, and theory of egalitarianism. My analysis demonstrates that each of the six main characters adopted at least one trait of traditional gender roles at the beginning of the series. The traits they adopted will be categorized by their personal attitude, social behavior, value, self-concept, and career choice. By the end of the series, the six main characters had eventually challenged traditional gender roles and adopted more to the Egalitarianism theory.

Income taxation and equity: new dominance criteria with a microsimulation application

This paper addresses the problem of the normative evaluation of income tax systems and income tax reforms. While most of the existing criteria, framed in the utilitarian tradition, are uniquely based on information about individual incomes, this paper, building upon the opportunity egalitarian theory, proposes new equity criteria which take into account also the socio-economic characteristics of individuals. Suitable dominance conditions that can be used to rank alternative tax systems are derived by means of an axiomatic approach. Moreover, the theoretical results are used to assess the redistributive effects of an hypothetical tax reform in Romania through a microsimulation analysis.

Affirmative Action in the Political Domain

This article has two parts. First, I argue that three prominent arguments in favour of affirmative action – the mitigating discrimination argument, the equality of opportunity argument and the diversity argument – may be based on a relational egalitarian theory of justice, as opposed to a distributive understanding of justice. Second, I argue that basing these arguments in favour of affirmative action on relational egalitarianism has an interesting implication when it comes to the site(s) of affirmative action. Whereas affirmative action is usually discussed and pursued in university admissions and in hiring for jobs, the relational egalitarian–based arguments entail, all else equal, that we have more reason to pursue affirmative action in the political domain than in the traditional sites.

A market failures approach to justice in health

It is generally acknowledged that a certain amount of state intervention in health and health care is needed to address the significant market failures in these sectors; however, it is also thought that the primary rationale for state involvement in health must lie elsewhere, for example in an egalitarian commitment to equalizing access to health care for all citizens. This paper argues that a complete theory of justice in health can be derived from a commitment to correcting market failure, or in other words promoting Pareto-efficiency, in the domain of health. This approach can address familiar problems around access to care, as well as problems related to resource allocation and rationing (including resource allocation between generations), the control of health care costs, and the foundations of public health. Egalitarian theories of justice in health cannot make sense of the depth and pervasiveness of state involvement in health and health care; only a theory rooted in the need to correct market failure can.

A multi-period performance analysis of airlines: A game-SBM-NDEA and Malmquist Index approach

The airline industry is one of the major industries having a significant role in the economic development of a country, on both domestic and international sides. Hence, it is important to have the airlines performing efficiently, as much as possible. To this end, it seems necessary to continuously evaluate the performance of the airlines to find any possible chance to improve their performance. In this study, by combing the ideas of the Egalitarian Bargaining game theory, Network Data Envelopment Analysis (NDEA), and Slack-Based Measure (SBM), a new game-SBM-NDEA model has been proposed to evaluate the performance of the Decision Making Units (DMUs) with a series network structure. In addition to handling the between-stages conflict in the network structures, the proposed model can provide more reliable efficiency scores when the number of the DMUs is not large enough compared to the number of considered inputs and outputs. The developed model and Malmquist Index have been applied to analyze the performance of Iranian domestic airlines over an 8-years period from 2013 to 2020, as a real-world case study. The obtained results for overall efficiency scores, operational efficiency, service efficiency, slack/surplus values for all inputs and outputs, and efficiency changes over time have been comprehensively analyzed in order to obtain the deficiencies of each airline and find possible solutions to improve their performance.

Age and Illness Severity: A Case of Irrelevant Utilities?

AbstractIllness severity is a priority setting criterion in several countries. Age seems to matter when considering severity, but perhaps not small age differences. In the following article we consider Small Differences (SD): small differences in age are not relevant when considering differential illness severity. We show that SD cannot be accommodated within utilitarian, prioritarian or egalitarian theories. Attempting to accommodate SD by postulating a threshold model becomes exceedingly complex and self-defeating. The only way to accommodate SD seems to be to accept some form of relevance view, where some age differences are irrelevant. This view can accommodate SD, but at the expense of consistent priority orderings. Severity thus becomes unsuitable for systematic decision-making. We argue that SD should be dismissed and that we should accept a continuous relationship between severity of illness and age.