Social equality
| Rights |
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| Theoretical distinctions |
| Human rights |
| Rights by claimant |
| Other groups of rights |
Social equality is a state of affairs in which all people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in certain respects, often including civil rights, freedom of speech, property rights, and equal access to social goods and services. However, it also includes concepts of health equity, economic equality and other social securities. It also includes equal opportunities and obligations, and so involves the whole of society. Social equality requires the absence of legally enforced social class or caste boundaries and the absence of discrimination motivated by an inalienable part of a person's identity.[1] For example, sex, gender, race, age, sexual orientation, origin, caste or class, income or property, language, religion, convictions, opinions, health or disability must not result in unequal treatment under the law and should not reduce opportunities unjustifiably.
"Equal opportunities" is interpreted as being judged by ability, which is compatible with a free-market economy. A problem is horizontal inequality, the inequality of two persons of same origin and ability.
In complexity economics, it has been found that horizontal inequality arises in complex systems, and thus equality may be unattainable.
See also
- Social inequality, the opposite of social equality
- Social justice
- Ethnic Penalty
- Egalitarianism
- Equality before the law
- Equal opportunity
- Leveling mechanism
- Redistribution of income and wealth
- Rule according to higher law
References
- ↑ Blackford, Russell (July 20, 2006). "Genetic enhancement and the point of social equality". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.
Further reading
- Arnold, Matthew (1879). "Equality." In: Mixed Essays. New York: Macmillan & Co., pp. 48–97.
- Bell, Daniel (1972). "On Meritocracy and Equality," The Public Interest, No. 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, Richard (1974). "The Pursuit of Equality", The Public Interest, Vol. 35, pp. 103–120.
- 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). "The New Natural Law and the Problem of Equality," The Modern Age, Vol. XXIV, No. 3, pp. 238–247.
- Tonsor, Stephen J. (1980). "Equality in the New Testament," The Modern Age, Vol. XXIV, No. 4, pp. 345–354.
- 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.