Social equality

A pro-marriage equalityrally inSan Francisco,US

Equality symbol

Social equalityis a state of affairs in which all individuals within society have equal rights, liberties, and status, possibly includingcivil rights,freedom of expression,autonomy,and equal access to certainpublic goodsandsocial services.

Social equality requires the absence of legally enforcedsocial classorcasteboundaries and the absence ofdiscriminationmotivated by an inalienable part of an individual's identity.For example, advocates of social equality believe inequality before the lawfor all individuals regardless of sex, gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, origin, caste or class, income or property, language, religion, convictions, opinions, health, or disability. There are different types of social equality:

• Formal equality:equal opportunity for individuals based on merit.
• Substantive equality:equality of outcomesfor groups, also calledsocial equity.

Definition

Social equality is variously defined and measured by different schools of thought. These include equality ofpower,rights,goods,opportunities,capabilities, or some combination of these things. It may also be defined in comparison todistributiveequality, power structures between individuals, orjusticeandpolitical egalitarianism.Societies that promote social equality generally do not make distinctions of rank orsocial class,andinterpersonal relationshipsunder a system of social equality are generally based on the idea of mutualrespectand equalvaluerather thanhierarchyorhonour.Many different ideologies draw from ideas of social equality, includingcommunism,anarchism,multiculturalism,republicanism,democracy,socialism,andsocial democracy.The advocacy of social equality isegalitarianism.Social equality is distinct from alleviating suffering of the unfortunate in society. It is an expression of the ideal that any two individuals in society should be treated with equal respect and have an equal right to participate in society without regard for social status or hierarchy.

Social equality often pertains to how individuals relate to one another within a society, though it can also be considered in interactions between societies. Social hierarchies may form betweenstatesor their citizens when power disparities exist between them, particularly in the context ofglobalization.These disparities are often distinct in type as well as scope, as citizens in different states do not share a common community or social environment.As advances are made in social equality, both internationally and within a society, the scope of social equality expands as new forms ofsocial inequalitybecome apparent and new solutions become possible.

Historical examples

Illustrating the combat fought in favour of this application on many fronts are the following episodes:

• TheFrench Revolutionof 1789 in view of the abolition ofprivileges
• TheBandung Conferenceand other anticolonialist movements reclaimed a better sharing of the world than that realized between great powers at theYalta Conference
• TheUnited Nationswhich – by its specialized institutions – seeks to promote more stable and concrete dialogue and cooperation between its members
• In France, trade union movements (as in 1936) or charitable movements, such as in France that ofAbbé Pierre,ofInternational Movement ATD Fourth World
• The appeal to the establishment ofequal opportunitiesappeals to the idea that people must be in the same conditions to try in life (with concrete initiatives, such as that ofMuhammad Yunusin favour ofmicrocredit)

Philosophical history

Early conceptions of social equality appear inAncient Greek philosophy.TheStoicphilosophers believed that humanreasonis universal.Platoconsidered the natures of equality when building society in theRepublic,including both amonasticequality and equality in depravity.Aristotlealso developed a conception of equality, particularly regardingcitizenship,though he rejected the concept of total social equality in favour of social hierarchy.Social equality developed as a practicable element of society in Europe during theReformationin which traditional religious hierarchies were challenged. The development of post-Reformationpolitical philosophyprovided asecularfoundation for social equality andpolitical sciencecreated empirical systems to analyze social equality in practice.

The contemporary notion of social equality was developed in the 20th century by political philosophers such asJohn Rawls,Ronald Dworkin,andAmartya Sen.Rawls defined equality throughprimary goodslike liberty, opportunity, respect, and wealth. Dworkin incorporated a concept of responsibility into Rawls' approach, saying that individuals are personally responsible for voluntary decisions but not natural talents or pre-dispositions. Sen rejected Rawls' measurement of resources in favour of the capability to function.Robert Nozickis known for rejecting Rawls' conception of social equality, arguing that the individual who produced a resource is entitled to it, even if this produces unequal results.

Types

Social equality is a major element of equality for any group in society.Gender equalityincludes social equality betweenmen,women,andintersex people,whethertransgenderorcisgender.Internationally, women are harmed significantly more by a lack of gender equality, resulting in a higher risk ofpoverty.Racial equalityand ethnic equality include social equality between people of different races and ethnic origins. Social equality can also be applied to belief and ideology, including equal social status for people of all political or religious beliefs.

The rights of people withdisabilitiespertain to social equality. Both physical and mental disabilities can prevent individuals from participating in society at an equal level, due to environmental factors as well as stigmas associated with disability. Social equality includes both the treatment of disabilities and the accommodation of people with disabilities to facilitate equal participation in society.

Means

Economic developmentandindustrializationare correlated with increased social equality. The industrialization process in which adeveloping countrybecomes adeveloped countrycorresponds to a significant increase in social equality, and further economic development and growth in developed countries corresponds with further increases in social equality.Educationand social equality are also correlated, and increased access to education promotes social equality among individuals.

Standards

Ontological

The standard of equality that states everyone is created equal at birth is calledontologicalequality.This type of equality can be seen in many places like theUnited States Declaration of Independence.This early document, which states many of the values of the United States of America, has this idea of equality embedded in it. It says "all men are created equal,that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights ". The statement reflects the philosophy ofJohn Lockeand his idea that all are equal in terms of certainnatural rights.Although this standard of equality is seen in documents as important as the Declaration of Independence, it is "one not often invoked in policy debates these days".

Opportunity

Main article:Equality of opportunity

Another standard of equality is equality of opportunity, "the idea that everyone has an equal chance to achieve wealth, social prestige, and power because the rules of the game, so to speak, are the same for everyone".This concept can be applied to society by saying that no one has a head start. This means that, for any social equality issue dealing with wealth, social prestige, power, or any of that sort, the equality of opportunity standard can defend the idea that everyone had the same start. This views society almost as a game and any of the differences in equality standards are due to luck and playing the "game" to one's best ability.Formal equalityrefers to equal opportunity for individuals based on merit whilesubstantive equalityreforms toequality of outcomesfor groups.

Lesley A. Jacobs, the author ofPursuing Equal Opportunities: The Theory and Practice of Egalitarian Justice,talks about equality of opportunity and its importance relating to egalitarianjustice.Jacobs states that: at the core of equality of opportunity... is the concept that in competitive procedures designed for the allocation of scarce resources and the distribution of the benefits and burdens of social life, those procedures should be governed by criteria that are relevant to the particular goods at stake in the competition and not by irrelevant considerations such as race, religion, class, gender, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or other factors that may hinder some of the competitors' opportunities at success. (Jacobs, 10).

This concept points out factors likerace,gender,class, etc. that should not be considered when talking about equality through this notion. Conley also mentions that this standard of equality is at the heart of abourgeois society,such as a modern capitalist society, or "a society of commerce in which the maximization of profit is the primary business incentive".It was the equal opportunity ideology that civil rights activists adopted in the era of thecivil rights movementin the 1960s. This ideology was used by them to argue thatJim Crow lawswere incompatible with the standard of equality of opportunity.

Condition

Another notion of equality introduced by Conley is equality of condition. Through this framework is the idea that everyone should have an equal starting point. Conley goes back to his example of a game ofMonopolyto explain this standard. If the game of four started with two players both having an advantage of $5,000 to start with and both already owning hotels and other property while the other two players both did not own any property and both started with a $5,000 deficit, then from a perspective of the standard of equality of condition, one can argue that the rules of the game "need to be altered to compensate for inequalities in the relative starting positions".From this weform policies to even equality which in result bring an efficient way to create fairer competition in society. Here is wheresocial engineeringcomes into play where wechange society to give an equality ofconditionto everyone based on race, gender, class, religion, etc. when it is made justifiable that the proponents of the society make it unfair for them.

Sharon E. Kahn, the author ofAcademic Freedom and the Inclusive University,talks about equality of condition in their work as well and how it correlates tofreedomof individuals. Kahn claims that in order to have individual freedom there needs to be equality of condition "which requires much more than the elimination of legal barriers: it requires the creation of alevel playing fieldthat eliminates structural barriers to opportunity ".Her work refers to academic structure and its problem with equalities and claims that to "ensure equity... we need to recognize that the university structure and its organizational culture have traditionally privileged some and marginalized other; we need to go beyond theoretical concepts of equality by eliminating systemic barriers that hinder the equal participation of members of all groups; we need to create and equality of condition, not merely an equality of opportunity"."Notions of equity, diversity, and inclusiveness begin with a set of premises aboutindividualism,freedom and rights that take as given the existence of deeply rooted inequalities in social structure, "therefore in order to have a culture of the inclusive university, it would have to" be based on values of equity; that is, equality of condition "eliminating all systemic barriers that go against equality.

Outcome

Main article:Equality of outcome

The fourth standard of equality is equality of outcome, which is "a position that argues each player must end up with the same amount regardless of the fairness".In this standard of equality, the idea is that "everyone contributes to society and the economy according to what they do best".Under this notion of equality, Conley states that "nobody will earn more power, prestige, and wealth by working harder". Equality of outcome is often falsely conflated withcommunismorMarxist philosophyeven though these ideologies promote the distribution of resources based onneedorcontribution(depending on the level of development of a society'sproductive forces) rather than equality.Vladimir Leninstated that the "abolition of classes means placingallcitizens on anequalfooting about themeans of productionbelonging to society as a whole. It means giving all citizensequalopportunities of working on the publicly-owned means of production, on the publicly-owned land, at the publicly-owned factories, and so forth ".

When defining equality of outcome in education, "the goals should not be the liberal one of equality of access but equality of outcome for the median number of each identifiable non-educationally defined group, i.e. the average women, negro, orproletarianor rural dweller should have the same level of educational attainment as the average male, white, suburbanite ".The outcome and the benefits from equality from education from this notion of equality promotes that all should have the same outcomes and benefits regardless of race, gender, religion etc. The equality of outcome in Hewitt's point of view is supposed to result in "a comparable range of achievements between a specificdisadvantagedgroup – such as an ethnicminority,women, lone parents and the disabled – and society as a whole ".

Information ethics is impartial and universal because it brings to ultimate completion the process of enlargement of the concept of what may count as a centre of a (no matter how minimal)moral claim,which now includes every instance of being understood informationally, no matter whether physically implemented or not. In this respect, information ethics holds that every entity as an expression of being has a dignity constituted by its mode of existence and essence (the collection of all the elementary properties that constitute it for what it is), which deserve to be respected (at least in a minimal and overridable sense), and hence place moral claims on the interacting agent and ought to contribute to the constraint and guidance of his ethical decisions and behaviour.Floridi goes on to claim that this "ontological equality principle means that any form of reality (any instance of information/being), simply for the fact of being what it is, enjoys a minimal, initial, overridable, equal right to exist and develop in a way which is appropriate to its nature."Values in his claims correlate to those shown in the sociological textbookYou May Ask Yourselfby Dalton Conley. The notion of "ontological equality" describes equality by saying everything is equal by nature. Everyone is created equal at birth. Everything has an equal right to exist and develop by its nature.

Further reading

• Arnold, Mathew(18759). "Equality." In:Mixed Essays.New York: Macmillan & Co., pp. 48–97.
• Bell, Daniel(1972),"On meritocracy and equality"(PDF),The Public Interest,vol. 29, pp. 29–68
• Bryce, James(1898). "Equality,"The Century; A Popular Quarterly,Vol. 56, No. 3, pp. 459–469.
• Dreikurs, Rudolf(1983).Social Equality; The Challenge of Today.Chicago, IL: Alfred Adler Institute of Chicago.
• Gil, David G. (1976).The Challenge of Social Equality.Cambridge: Schenkman Pub. Co.
• Hyneman, Charles S. (1980). "Equality: Elusive Ideal or Beguiling Delusion?"The Modern Age,Vol. XXIV, No. 3, pp. 226–237.
• Jackman, Robert W. (1975).Politics and Social Equality.New York: Wiley.
• Lane, Robert E. (1959). "The Fear of Equality,"The American Political Science Review,Vol. 53, No. 1, pp. 35–51.
• Lucas, J.R.(1965). "Against Equality,"Philosophy,Vol. 40, pp. 296–307.
• Lucas, J.R.(1977). "Against Equality Again,"Philosophy,Vol. 52, pp. 255–280.
• Mallock, William H.(1882).Social Equality: A Short Study in a Missing Science.London: Richard Bentley and Son.
• Merwin, Henry Childs (1897). "The American Notion of Equality,"The Atlantic Monthly,Vol. 80, pp. 354–363.
• Nagel, Thomas(1978). "The Justification of Equality,"Crítica: Revista Hispanoamericana de Filosofía,Vol. 10, No. 28, pp. 3–31.
• Nisbet, Robert(1974),"The Pursuit of Equality"(PDF),The Public Interest,vol. 35, pp. 103–120
• Piketty, Thomas(2022).A Brief History of Equality.Harvard University Press.ISBN978-0674273559.
• Rothbard, Murray N.(1995). "Egalitarianism and the Elites,"The Review of Austrian Economics,Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 39–57.
• Rougier, Louis(1974). "Philosophical Origins of the Idea of Natural Equality,"The Modern Age,Vol. XVIII, No. 1, pp. 29–38.
• Stephen, James Fitzjames(1873). "Equality." In:Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.New York: Holt & Williams, pp. 189–255.
• Stephen, Leslie(1891). "Social Equality,"International Journal of Ethics,Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 261–288.
• Tonsor, Stephen J. (1979). "Liberty and Equality as Absolutes,"The Modern Age,Vol. XXIII, No. 1, pp. 2–9.
• Tonsor, Stephen J. (1980). "Equality and Ancient Society,"The Modern Age,Vol. XXIV, No. 2, pp. 134–141.
• Tonsor, Stephen J. (1980). "Equality in the New Testament,"The Modern Age,Vol. XXIV, No. 4, pp. 345–354.
• Tonsor, Stephen J. (1980). "The New Natural Law and the Problem of Equality,"The Modern Age,Vol. XXIV, No. 3, pp. 238–247.
• Tonsor, Stephen J. (1981). "Equality: The Greek Historical Experience,"The Modern Age,Vol. XXV, No. 1, pp. 46–55.
• Velasco, Gustavo R. (1974). "On Equality and Egalitarianism,"The Modern Age,Vol. XVIII, No. 1, pp. 21–28.

External links

• Media related toSocial equalityat Wikimedia Commons