With grace and wit, Brian Barry exposes the shoddy logic and distortion of reality that underpins this ideology. Once we understand the role of the social structure in limiting options, we have to recognize that really putting into practice ideas such as equal opportunity and personal responsibility would require a fundamental transformation of almost all existing institutions.
Barry argues that only if inequalities of wealth and income are kept within a narrow range can equal prospects for education, health and autonomy be realized. He proposes a number of policies to achieve a more equal society and argues that they are economically feasible. But are they politically possible?
The apparent stability of the status quo is delusory, he responds: radical changes in our way of life are unavoidable. Whether these changes are for better or for worse depends partly on the availability of a coherent set of principles and a programme flowing from them that is capable of mobilizing the growing discontent with business as usual. That is, ultimately, why social justice matters.
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"Barry's pugnacious defence of a robust social democracy deserves to find a wide readership ... for disillusioned social democrats, Why Social Justice Matters stands as a refreshingly staunch and intelligent manifesto."
New Statesman
"Barry's writing is extremely engaging. His arguments are supported by a wide range of examples and illustrations and an impressive breadth of scholarship."
Ethics and Social Welfare
"This book is a powerful argument against the utter inequity of the current political and economic system in the UK and against the way in which a discourse of `equal opportunities' is used to maintain what Barry describes as the `machinery of injustice'. In this extraordinarily simple and lucid book, Barry weaves striking threads of supporting evidence, anecdotes, quotations and statistics together to encourage us to insist that another (just) world is not only possible but that an unjust world cannot endure."
British Journal of Sociology
"Barry persuasively argues that differentials in positional goods allow the rich to have better personal health due to higher self-esteem, better access to more fulfilling jobs due to a wealth of social connections, and greater ability to capture the government and use it to secure their own interests."
Utilitas
Part I. Social Justice: The Basics.
Why We Need a Theory.
The Machinery of Social Injustice.
The Scope of Social Justice..
Part II: Equality of Opportunity.
Why Equal Opportunity?.
Education.
Health.
The Making of the Black Gulag..
Part III. What's Wrong with Meritocracy?.
The Idea of Meritocracy.
The Abuse of Science..
Part IV. The Cult of Personal Responsibility.
Responsibility versus Equality?.
Rights and Responsibilities.
Irresponsible Societies..
Part V. The Demands of Social Justice.
Pathologies of Inequality.
Wealth.
Jobs and Incomes.
Can We Afford Social Justice?.
Part VI. The Future of Social Justice.
The Power of Ideas.
How Change Happens.
Meltdown?.
Justice or Bust.
Notes.
Index.
