The main idea of fair equality of opportunity (FEO) is that equality of opportunity requires more than meritocratic competition and the absence of arbitrary discrimination (e.g., on the basis of race, gender). FEO requires also that persons have equal access to the resources necessary to develop their talents, so that meritocratic competition will be fair. Some accounts of FEO emphasize the importance of equal outcomes between different social groups. Other accounts of FEO aim at eliminating the social relations of a class state, whether or not this achieves equality of outcomes between social groups. Furthermore, many recent discussions of global justice have focused on the idea of global fair equality of opportunity.
Fair equality of opportunity is a modified version of equality of opportunity. Following writers like Adam Smith, equality of opportunity exists under social and economic conditions where careers are open to talents. A society with equality of opportunity reaps the...
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Navin, M.C. (2011). Fair Equality of Opportunity. In: Chatterjee, D.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Justice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_9
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