The Centrality of Equality: Equality and Other Values

Abstract

The idea of equality has always belonged to the ideals of the left. Nor could anyone deny its relevance in today’s world, given the widespread and savage inequalities illustrated in Chapter 1. What is more controversial is to claim that equality has a special status among progressive ideals and that it should be the defining concept in our thinking about social institutions and how they should be changed. In this chapter we support this claim by briefly discussing the relationship between equality and some other human values. We start with ideas that are sometimes contrasted with equality but in our view are simply part of what egalitarians believe. We then move on to what we call ‘human goods’, namely those things and relationships that generally enhance the value of people’s lives. We argue that far from conflicting with these values, equality demands that their benefits should be justly shared. We go on to discuss the connection between equality and some key political values, namely freedom, solidarity and the protection of the environment. We finish by identifying some genuine conflicts between equality and other values, where we are happy to endorse the egalitarian alternative.