I—The presidential address. Equality and hierarchy
Hierarchy is a difficulty for theories of equality, and especially those that define equality in relational or social terms. In ideal egalitarian circumstances it seems that hierarchies should not exist. However, a liberal egalitarian defence of some types of hierarchies is common. Hierarchies of es...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford University Press
2019
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| _version_ | 1797101495487823872 |
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| author | Wolff, J |
| author_facet | Wolff, J |
| author_sort | Wolff, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Hierarchy is a difficulty for theories of equality, and especially those that define equality in relational or social terms. In ideal egalitarian circumstances it seems that hierarchies should not exist. However, a liberal egalitarian defence of some types of hierarchies is common. Hierarchies of esteem have no further consequences than praise or admiration for valued individual features. Hierarchies of status, with differential reward, can, it is often argued, also be justified when they serve a justified social purpose and meet conditions of genuine equality of opportunity. However, group hierarchies remain problematic, and evidence suggests that they are pervasive in human societies above a subsistence level of production. It has also been argued that group hierarchies are impossible to eliminate, and enormous cost is associated with attempting, and failing, to remove them. However, the perspective of ‘real-world’ political philosophy suggests measures to mitigate group hierarchy, starting with those that are either the easiest to address, the most damaging, or the most consequential. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T05:52:47Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:e977b517-20a2-41c8-9edb-15276b98fca8 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T05:52:47Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:e977b517-20a2-41c8-9edb-15276b98fca82022-03-27T10:54:30ZI—The presidential address. Equality and hierarchyJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:e977b517-20a2-41c8-9edb-15276b98fca8EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordOxford University Press2019Wolff, JHierarchy is a difficulty for theories of equality, and especially those that define equality in relational or social terms. In ideal egalitarian circumstances it seems that hierarchies should not exist. However, a liberal egalitarian defence of some types of hierarchies is common. Hierarchies of esteem have no further consequences than praise or admiration for valued individual features. Hierarchies of status, with differential reward, can, it is often argued, also be justified when they serve a justified social purpose and meet conditions of genuine equality of opportunity. However, group hierarchies remain problematic, and evidence suggests that they are pervasive in human societies above a subsistence level of production. It has also been argued that group hierarchies are impossible to eliminate, and enormous cost is associated with attempting, and failing, to remove them. However, the perspective of ‘real-world’ political philosophy suggests measures to mitigate group hierarchy, starting with those that are either the easiest to address, the most damaging, or the most consequential. |
| spellingShingle | Wolff, J I—The presidential address. Equality and hierarchy |
| title | I—The presidential address. Equality and hierarchy |
| title_full | I—The presidential address. Equality and hierarchy |
| title_fullStr | I—The presidential address. Equality and hierarchy |
| title_full_unstemmed | I—The presidential address. Equality and hierarchy |
| title_short | I—The presidential address. Equality and hierarchy |
| title_sort | i the presidential address equality and hierarchy |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wolffj ithepresidentialaddressequalityandhierarchy |