Elizabeth Anderson on a theory of justice founded on freedom from oppression rather than mere income equality
Protesters carrying Black Lives Matter signs at a demonstration against police brutality in Boston, May 2020. From Britannica.com The political narrative and institutional arrangement in the UK is based on the premise that those on low incomes are either strivers or skivers, and if the latter they should be be excluded from benefits entitlements. This mentality of restricting benefits to the ‘undeserving’ poor has been a dominant part of UK political narrative on poverty since at least the Poor Laws of 1601. This view falls out of a theory of justice called Luck Egalitarianism (LE). In her article, ‘What is the Point of Inequality’, Elizabeth Anderson critiques this approach and offers a constructive alternative, Democratic Egalitarianism (DE), where redistribution is motivated by dignity and respect, and the poor are not judged deserving or underserving. LE is an insurance-based approach to redistribution, and thereby, so it claims, justice. The market is allowed to supply insur...