Q1. What do you mean by Equality?

• The idea of equality is the central feature of modern political thought. Classical and Medieval thinkers considered hierarchy as natural and inevitable while Modern thinkers started with the assumption that all human beings have equal moral worth. Aristotle, for instance, discovered that ‘inequality’ was a cause of rebellion in many states. He defined justice as “treating equals equally and unequals unequally”. It insisted on recognition and maintenance of existing inequalities in society—between master and slave, between rich and poor, between morally superior and morally inferior, and so on. 
• The modern idea of equality, on the contrary, seeks the reduction in inequalities insofar as they can be proved to be unjust according to the prevailing social consciousness. 
• Today Equality is a highly complex concept; there are as many forms of equality as there are ways of comparing the conditions of human existence. Example: moral equality, legal equality, political equality, social equality, sexual equality, racial equality and so forth. 
• Moreover, the principle of equality has assumed a number of forms, the most significant of which have been formal equality, equality of opportunity and equality of outcome. We will discuss these concepts one by one in this chapter. 

“Equality is basically a process of equalization. So first of all equality implies the deficiency of special rights. Secondly, it implies that everyone should get enough opportunities for growth.” -Harold Laski 

History of Equality Debate

• In classical Greece, Aristotle in his book “Politics” distinguished three social classes and noted the significant difference between citizens and slaves, men and women in terms of rational and civic capacities. Participation in the Polis was restricted to the citizens only. Similarly, in Hindu Society, according to the classical text, the society was divided into four (Varnas). All rights and duties were based upon this classification. 
• Stoicism: Greek philosopher Zeno founded the Stoic School in Athens in the early 3rd century BC and supported equality among men. It is one of the earliest examples of doctrine of equality in western political thought. The Stoics concluded that all human beings possess reason and thereby all mankind is differentiated from other animals and is united. Humanity does not admit of degree. As such all men are equal as men. The Stoic philosophers gave the idea of universal brotherhood and they were opposed to slavery.
• During medieval feudalism, legal privileges were based upon status and birth. In short, different types of inequalities have been long enduring, giving rise to the notion that inequality is inevitable in social relations. Different ideologies justified inequality on grounds of superior race, ancestry, age, sex, religion, military strength, culture, wealth, knowledge, etc. 
• From the 15th to the 17th centuries, the cry for equality was against the landowners’ status and religious intolerance and was raised by Puritans, Levellers, doctrine of natural rights and John Locke. Simultaneously, the movements of Renaissance and Reformation raised a powerful voice against the legal privileges of the clergy and nobility based upon birth and demanded equality by birth. The French revolution and American civil war promoted the idea of equality. 
  • “Men are born free and equal and they are free and equal in their rights” 

• In the modern world, equality has been accepted as a basic principle of organising human life. The economic and social dimension of equality emerged during the nineteenth century and was the result of conflicts and struggles between the capitalist/ industrial classes on one hand and workers and peasants on the other. As a result, along with legal equality, demand for economic and social equality was raised by liberal socialists and Marxist writers alike such as J S Mill, TH Green, Babeuf, Karl Marx etc 
• In the twentieth century, the demand for equality became more persistent. Today, it has become the sine qua non for the socio-economic mobility typical of a highly industrialist society. The national liberation movements against imperialism and colonialism, movements against apartheid, socialist revolutions in Russia, China and East European countries brought the issue of equality to the forefront. 
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 extended the recognition of equality which had hitherto been accepted as the aim of all strata of industrialised countries to the people of the third world countries who had been discriminated against, thus contributing to the eventual emergence of an international society based upon socio-economic equality. 
• Today, every modern political constitution has some notion of human equality inscribed as a fundamental law and every political theory of any importance has contributed to the nature and feasibility of socio-economic equality. 

According to Turner, inequality is multi-dimensional and the elimination of one aspect of inequality often leads to the exaggeration of other aspects of social, political and cultural inequalities.

What is equality?

• Like Liberty, rights etc the concept of Equality can also be understood in its negative and positive aspects. Ever since the rise of the idea of equality, it has been engaged in dismantling certain privileges whether they were feudal, social, economic, etc. 
• Negatively, equality was associated with ‘the end of such privileges’. 
• Positively, it meant ‘the availability of opportunity’ so that everybody could have an equal chance to develop his personality. 
• According to Harold Laski equality means: 
  • Absence of special privileges. 
  • Adequate opportunities are laid open to all to realise the implications of one’s own personality. 
  • All must have access to social benefits and no one should be restricted on any ground. 
  • Absence of economic and social exploitation. 
• Similarly, For Barker, ‘The principle of equality, accordingly means that whatever conditions are guaranteed to me in the form of rights shall also and in the same measure be guaranteed to others and that whatever rights are given to others shall also be given to me’. 
• According to E.F. Carritt, ‘Equality is just to treat men as equal until some reason other than preference such as need, capacity or desert has been shown to the contrary’. 
• According to Raphael, ‘The right to equality properly is a right to the equal satisfaction of basic human needs, including the need to develop and use capacities which are specifically human’. 
• Recently, Bryan Turner in his book “Equality” has given a comprehensive meaning of equality in terms of following: 
  • Fundamental equality of persons is: 
    • Common to cultural, religious and moral traditions typically expressed in statements such as ‘all are equal in the eyes of God’. 
    • Concerned with the equality of men as men; something called ‘human nature’, ‘human dignity’, ‘personality’ or ‘soul’ by virtue of which they must be treated as fundamentally equal. 
    • Found in the Marxist tradition, it is claimed that all human beings are defined by praxis, i.e. all human beings are knowledgeable, conscious and practical agents. 
  • Equality of opportunity 
    • This means that the access to important social institutions should be open to all on universalistic grounds, especially by achievement and talent. 
    • This type of equality believes in meritocracy, where the occupational structure of society is filled on the basis of merit in terms of universal criteria of achievement and not on the basis of age, sex, wealth, caste, religion, etc. 
  • Equality of conditions where there is an attempt to make the conditions of life equal. 
  • Equality of outcome of results 
    • It is the most radical notion of equality. 
    • It means that through legislation and other political means, equalities of results are achieved regardless of the starting point or natural ability. 

Equality: Fair Treatment vs Equal Treatment

• Libertarians value equal treatment, e.g. Nozick (Anarchy, State, and Utopia) is of the view that “unjustly taking someone’s holdings for redistribution violates their rights”. He speaks against “Progressive taxation” and calls it similar to bonded labour that amounts to the unjust treatment of the Rich. 
• However equal treatment alone does not make all in society equal, as different people have different starting points owing to historical discrimination for example, Dalits, Tribals in India or Blacks in the USA or Women, LGBTQs in general. Therefore, there is a need for positive discrimination to ensure fair treatment. 
• Rawls in his theory of justice has acknowledged equality as fair treatment and given the difference principle that makes disadvantaged ones better off. He even justifies discrimination thereby establishing Democratic equality between Liberty and Equality. 
• Dworkin has advocated resource egalitarianism. For him, internal inequalities e.g. disabilities also need to be considered. He posits that a person should be responsible only for voluntary choices and not choices made under un-chosen circumstances. Proposing the Envy test he argues that only those distributions are to be considered fair that does not give rise to envy. (Dworkin’s resource egalitarianism has been explained in detail in later part of this chapter) 
• Amartya Sen (capability approach) argues that equal treatment is not enough as people vary in abilities to convert equal resources into functioning. For fairness, we need equal capabilities.