Description
In the past twenty years, social injustice has increased enormously in Britain and the United States, regardless of the party in power. At the same time, the idea of social justice itself has been subverted, as the mantras of personal responsibility and equal opportunity have been employed as an excuse for doing nothing about the enrichment of the few at the expense of the many and for making ever harsher demands on the poor and vulnerable.
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.
Table of Contents
Preface
vii
Part
I Social Justice: The Basics
1
Why We Need a Theory 3
2
The Machinery of Social Injustice 14
3
The Scope of Social Justice 27
Part
II Equality of Opportunity
4
Why Equal Opportunity? 37
5
Education 46
6
Health 70
7
The Making of the Black Gulag 95
Part
IV The Cult of Personal Responsibility
10
Responsibility versus Equality? 131
11
Rights and Responsibilities 142
12
Irresponsible Societies 154
Part
V The Demands of Social Justice
13
Pathologies of Inequality 169
14
Wealth 186
15
Jobs and Incomes 200
Part
VI The Future of Social Justice
17
The Power of Ideas 233
18
How Change Happens 243
19
Meltdown? 251
20
Justice or Bust 261
Notes
274
Index
311
Brian
Barry is
Lieber Professor of Political Philosophy at Columbia University.
英国政治哲学家布莱恩·巴利以“公道”论正义问题,因而形成了公道正义观。他所说的“公道”是一种基于正义原则的公道性并通过社会制度的公道性体现出来的公正性。他把公道区分为形式公道和实质公道,认为公道正义原则不可避免地具有形式性,但它们的确立有助于形式公道的现实化,即有助于形式公道转化为实质公道。他还指出,实质公道的实现就是社会正义的实现,程序正义是实现实质公道的有效方式。巴利所说的公道是普遍有效的正义原则内含的一种伦理精神,是引导社会制度达到合理设计和安排的原则依据和伦理基础,也是引导一个社会追求分配正义的价值目标。
巴利的公道正义观顺应了当代西方政治哲学家注重张扬社会制度维护分配正义的功能及其以普遍有效的正义原则确立社会制度的合理性基础的思想主流,在当今西方产生了广泛影响。它对当代人类的现实启示主要在于：人类社会必须借助于社会制度的合理设计和安排来维护分配正义,但社会制度维护分配正义的前提条件是它本身必须具有内在公正性——这种内在公正性只能依靠公道的正义原则来确立,因此,人类社会的进步与和谐稳定借助于社会制度维护分配正义的关键是必须设计和安排公正或公道的社会制度。
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