Equality

Question 1

what is distributional egalitarianism?

Answer 1

persons should enjoy equal amounts of the ‘currency’ of egalitarian concern

disagreement over currency: three popular answers - resources, welfare, capabilities

Question 2

what different currencies of equality are there?

Answer 2

equality of welfare, equality of opportunity for welfare, equality of access to advantage, equality of resources, equality of capabilities

Question 3

what is equality of welfare?

Answer 3

treating people as equals entails making their lives equally desirable, so we need to equalise people’s welfare levels (distributional equality)

two definitions: welfare as (1) preference satisfaction, (2) as a quality of conscious states (pleasure/pain)

Question 4

what is equality of opportunity for welfare, according to Arneson?

Answer 4

each person must face an array of options that is equivalent to every other person’s in terms of the prospects for preference satisfaction it offers

need to distinguish between formal & substantive equality of opportunity

• formal equality of opportunity merely requires the position to be obtained to be open to all applicants
• substantive equality of opportunity goes beyond that: the agents’ actual opportunities must be equal (e.g. reducing social stigma & discrimination)

“when person enjoy equal opportunity of welfare in the extended sense, any actual inequality of welfare in the positions they reach is due to factors that lie within each individual’s control” (Arneson, 1989)

“assuming there is a distribution of natural assets, those who are at the same level of talent and ability, and have the same willingness to use them, should have the same prospects of success regardless of their initial place in the social system” (Rawls, 1999)

Question 5

what quote from Arneson (1989) supports equality of opportunity for welfare?

Answer 5

“when person enjoys equal opportunity of welfare, any actual inequality of welfare in the positions they reach is due to factors that lie within each individual’s control” (Arneson, 1989)

Question 6

what quote from Rawls (1999) supports equality of opportunity for welfare?

Answer 6

“assuming there is a distribution of natural assets, those who are at the same level of talent and ability, and have the same willingness to use them, should have the same prospects of success regardless of their initial place in the social system” (Rawls, 1999)

Question 7

which scholar supports equality of opportunity for welfare?

Answer 7

Arneson, 1989

Question 8

what is equality of resources, according to Dworkin?

Answer 8

people should have the same external resources at their command to make of them what, given their various features & talents, they can (Dworkin, 2000)

Dworkin proposes envy test as a metric of equality: “No division of resources is an equal division if, once the division is complete, anyone would prefer someone else’s bundle of resources to his own bundle” - this test must be applied to people’s bundles over the course of time, not at any particular point

Question 9

what metric of equality does Dworkin propose? what challenges does it face?

Answer 9

Dworkin proposes envy test as a metric of equality: “No division of resources is an equal division if, once the division is complete, anyone would prefer someone else’s bundle of resources to his own bundle” - this test must be applied to people’s bundles over the course of time, not at any particular point

Dworkin’s Shipwreck
Desert island survivors distribute resources such that it passes the “Envy Test” - no-one envies / prefers another’s bundle of resources (this is tested by the auction stage, where everyone is given some clams as currency)

Challenges:

• assume there are equal amounts of pineapples & coconuts - pineapples in general are more valued. Leah loves coconuts, Larry (like most) prefers pineapples. However, Leah gets loads of what she likes whilst Larry can’t because his preferences are more expensive
• so although neither prefers the other’s bundle (so passes Dworkin’s envy test), they are not equal in welfare

Question 10

what objections are there to Dworkin’s equality of resources?

Answer 10

different needs objection

• disabled & able-bodied persons both get the same share of resources even though the first will be worse off comparatively (Arneson)

resource fetishism objection

• resources are means to an end, & it would be fetishist to focus on means rather than on what individuals gain with these means
• since resources matter to use insofar as they enable us to achieve goals that matter to us, a proper measure of equality should be based on people’s opportunities to fulfil their goals (Sen, 1980)

Question 11

what is equality of capabilities, according to Sen?

Answer 11

an attempt to ensure equal effective freedom

Question 12

what objections are there to Sen’s equality of capabilities?

Answer 12

does not appropriately register the importance of personal responsibility

• e.g. suppose we deem having $1000 an amount of money that is required for basic functioning. A gambler can gamble away all that amount in a night and society would have a duty to reimburse him such that he has at least $1000 – the amount required for having a basic capability to live in that society

Question 13

how does the case of disability pose powerful challenges to any account of distributive equality?

Answer 13

an egalitarian needs to think about how we can adjust our theories & the world such that everyone can function as an equal

disability should be represented as a type of disadvantage that requires policy responses, but while still treating people with disabilities as equals

equality of resources: those who are disabled need more resources than those who are not

• compensation can be stigmatising & it assumes a straightforward medical model of disability. It could lead to isolation & marginalisation commonly experienced by PWD

equality of welfare: people with mental disabilities or chronic diseases may report lower happiness levels than others, & that cannot be made up for easily

equality of opportunity: it is just simply not possible to make everyone, disabled or not, have equal opportunities. A wheelchair will never be able to run marathons. We should rather care about equal respect & status

Question 14

what are the different proposals for the site of distributive justice?

Answer 14

Rawls: the basic structure (economic part of it)

• shape & character of institutions in a society, e.g. taxes affect the distribution of benefits & burdens, so they affect whether just distribution obtains

Cohen: individual actions

• what individuals do also affects the distribution & the degree to which justice obtains
• argues for an egalitarian ethos, whereby in a society there exists a social norm that one should make choices with regard to egalitarian values, and this norm is internalised by most people

Question 15

what is luck egalitarianism?

Answer 15

argues fundamental aim of equality is to compensate people for undeserved bad luck, it is against the moral arbitrariness of unchosen inequality

responsibility-sensitive

• inequalities due to option luck are just & fair because people are responsible for them
• inequalities due to brute luck are unjust & unfair because people are not responsible for them

unchosen & uncourted inequalities ought to be eliminated & chosen inequality should be left standing. Thus, no one should be worse off than someone else due to bad brute luck. In other words, the distribution should be ambition-sensitive & endowment-sensitive (Dworkin, 1981)

LE relies on two moral premises: that people should be compensated for undeserved misfortunes & that the compensation should come only from that part of others’ good fortune that is undeserved