Why Does Inequality Matter?

Demands for equality can seem puzzling, because it can be unclear what reason people have for objecting to the difference between what they have and what others have, as opposed simply to wanting to be better off. This book examines six objections to inequality: unequal concern, unequal status, lack of equality of opportunity, excessive control by the rich over those who have less, interference with political equality, and unfairness in the distribution of income. The aim of the book is to provide a moral anatomy of these six reasons and the ideas of equality that they involve. It also examines objections to the pursuit of equality on the grounds that it involves unacceptable interference with individual liberty, and argues that ideas of desert do not provide a basis either for justifying significant economic inequality or for objecting to it.