Liberal Equality

Liberal Equality restores egalitarianism to political theory in a way that will forcefully challenge its critics to deeper reflection.

Amy Gutmann (Author)

9780521296656, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 September 1980

332 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.45 kg

This book makes a significant contribution to the tradition of liberal political theory: it explores the foundations and limits of the idea of equality within that theory and offers a sustained argument for a persuasive new view of liberalism. Liberal thinking has always displayed a tension between the claims of liberty and those of equality. Professor Gutmann examines the contributions of liberal theorists from Locke to Rawls on the subject of two kinds of equality - equality of opportunity to participate and the equal distribution of economic goods. Valuing both, she shows that, far from being alternatives, the two ideals are compatible to a much greater degree than has previously been thought. Liberal Equality restores egalitarianism to political theory in a way that will forcefully challenge its critics to deeper reflection.

Preface
Introduction: equality, liberty and liberal theory
1. The classical liberal foundations
2. J. S. Mill and participatory opportunity
3. The Fabians and their allies: the minimal welfare state and beyond
4. The relevant reasons for liberal egalitarianism
5. John Rawls and distributive equality
6. Contemporary critics of liberal egalitarianism: left and right
7. Participatory and distributive equality reintegrated
Conclusion: the limits of liberal egalitarian politics
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & political philosophy [HPS]