Egalitarianism

Egalitarianism (from French égal, meaning 'equal') – orequalitarianism[1][2] – is a school of thought that prioritizes equality for all
people.[3] Egalitarian doctrines maintain that all humans are equal in fundamental worth or social status.[4] Egalitarianism is a trend
of thought in political philosophy. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the term has two distinct definitions in modern
English:[5] either as a political doctrine that all people should be treated as equals and have the same political, economic, social and
civil rights;[6] or as a social philosophy advocating the removal of economic inequalities among people, economic egalitarianism, or
the decentralization of power. Some sources define egalitarianism as the point of view that equality reflects the natural state of
humanity.[7][8][9]

Contents
Forms
Legal egalitarianism
Equality of person
Equality of men and women in rights and responsibilities
Gender equality
Social egalitarianism
Economic
Egalitarianism and non-human animals
Religious and spiritual egalitarianism
Sikhism
Christianity
Judaism
Islam
Modern egalitarianism theory
Reception
Marxism
See also
References
External links

Forms
Some specifically focused egalitarian concerns includecommunism, legal egalitarianism, luck egalitarianism, political egalitarianism,
gender egalitarianism, racial equality, equality of outcome and Christian egalitarianism. Common forms of egalitarianism include
political and philosophical.

Legal egalitarianism
One argument is that liberalism provides democratic societies with the means to carry out civic reform by providing a framework for
[10]
developing public policy and thus providing the right conditions for individuals to achieve civil rights.

Equality of person
The English Bill of Rights of 1689 and the United States Constitution use only the term "person" in operative language involving
fundamental rights and responsibilities, except for (a) a reference to "men" in the English Bill of Rights regarding men on trial for
treason; and (b) a rule ofproportional Congressional representation in the14th Amendment to the United States Constitution
.

As the rest of the Constitution, in its operative language the14th Amendment to the United States Constitutionuses the term "person"
stating, for example, that "[...] nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny
to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws".

Equality of men and women in rights and responsibilities

An example of this form is the Tunisian Constitution of 2014 which provides that "men and women shall be equal in their rights and
duties".

Gender equality
The motto "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" was used during the French Revolution and is still used as an official motto of the French
government. The 1789Rights of Man and of the CitizenFrench Constitution is framed also with this basis in equal rights of mankind.

The Declaration of Independence of the United States is an example of an assertion of equality of men, the wording of "men" and
"man" is a reference to both men and women i.e. "mankind" all men are created equal". John Locke is sometimes considered the
founder of this form.

Many state constitutions in the United States also use "rights of man" language rather than "rights of person" since the noun "man"
has always been a reference to and an inclusion of both men and women.

It is generally accepted by egalitarians that feminism falls under egalitarianism and that some feminists identify themselves as
egalitarian which under the correct definition of the word is equality for both men and women.

Social egalitarianism
At a cultural level, egalitarian theories have developed in sophistication and acceptance during the past two hundred years. Among
the notable broadly egalitarian philosophies are socialism, communism, social anarchism, libertarian socialism, left-libertarianism,
and progressivism, some of which propound economic egalitarianism. Several egalitarian ideas enjoy wide support among
intellectuals and in the general populations of many countries. However, whether any of these ideas have been significantly
[11]
implemented in practice remains a controversial question. A position of opposition to egalitarianism is anti-egalitarianism.

Economic
An early example of equality of outcome economic egalitarianism isXu Xing, a scholar of the Chinese philosophy ofagriculturalism,
who supported the fixing of prices and in which all similar goods and services, regardless of differences in quality and demand, are
set at exactly the same, unchanging price.[12]

In socialism, social ownership of means of production is sometimes considered to be a form of economic egalitarianism because in an
economy characterized by social ownership, the surplus product generated by industry would accrue to the population as a whole as
opposed to a class of private owners, thereby granting each individual increased autonomy and greater equality in their relationships
with one another. Although the economist Karl Marx is sometimes mistaken to be an egalitarian, Marx eschewed normative
theorizing on moral principles altogether. However, Marx did have a theory of the evolution of moral principles in relation to specific
economic systems.[13]

The American economistJohn Roemer has put forth a new perspective of equality and its relationship to socialism. Roemer attempts
to reformulate Marxist analysis to accommodate normative principles of distributive justice, shifting the argument for socialism away
from purely technical and materialist reasons to one of distributive justice. Roemer argues that according to the principle of
distributive justice, the traditional definition of socialism based on the principle that individual compensation be proportional to the
value of the labour one expends in production is inadequate. Roemer concludes that egalitarians must reject socialism as it is
[14]
classically defined in order for equality to be realized.

Egalitarianism and non-human animals

Many philosophers, including Ingmar Persson,[15] Peter Vallentyne,[16] Nils Holtug,[17] and Lewis Gompertz[18] have argued that
egalitarianism implies that the interests of non-human animals must be taken into account as well. Philosopher Oscar Horta has
further argued that "Egalitarianism implies rejecting speciesism, and in practice it prescribes ceasing to exploit nonhuman animals"
and that we should aid animals suffering in nature.[19] Furthermore, Horta argues that "because [nonhuman animals] are worse off in
[19]
comparison to humans, egalitarianism prescribes giving priority to the interests of nonhuman animals."

Religious and spiritual egalitarianism

Sikhism
The Sikh faith was founded upon egalitarian principles, reaffirming the notion of equality not only based upon race, but also between
the genders. This equality led to denunciation of sati, the practice of widows sacrificing themselves on the funeral pyres of deceased
husband, but which actually occurred due to the wives of warriors preferring to commit self-immolation over becoming the bounty of
war for the Central Asians that were waging wars in India and Afghanistan during the early Ghazni wars. The scriptural injunction is
often ascribed as providing women in the Sikh faith equal rights to practice their faith and be regarded as created equal in the eyes of
God. Whilst the noble premise to strive for egalitarianism, many Sikhs still practice strong tribal casteism, with greater rigidity than
the Hindu archetype from which the practice was inherited.[20] Despite the rhetoric of equality, scholars have "found contradictions
in the Sikh rhetoric of equality and widespread discrimination against Sikh's of low castes".[20] Furthermore, despite many Sikh
scholars decreeing the egalitarian tenets of Sikhism, denouncing sexism, female infanticide, dowry
, sati or the condemning of widows
to a life of solitude and isolation—the reality is these practices have remained prevalent whilst they have long fallen out of favour
with the other ethnocultural religious groups in the Indian continent, likeHindus, Buddhists and Jains.[21]

Christianity
The Christian egalitarian view holds that the Bible teaches the fundamental equality of women and men of all racial and ethnic mixes,
all economic classes and all age groups, but within the teachings and example of Jesus Christ, God and the overarching principles of
scripture.[22]

Within the wide range of Christianity there are dissenting views to this from opposing groups, some of which are complementarians.
There many that say that the Bible encourages equality and also encourages law and order and social structure (for example, parents
having authority over their children. These ideas are considered by someto be contrary to the ideals of egalitarianism.

Judaism
Judaism is a universalist religion due to the fact that one God created the entire universe. A further distinction has to be made
however. Judaism teaches that Jews (defined as either the biological descendants of Jacob "Israel", the son of Isaac and grandson of
Abraham or someone who converted) have a specific covenant with God as a chosen people (Deutoronomy 7:6 "chosen as God's
treasured people") to serve as an example ofGod's light to the rest of the world. The oral Torah and Rabbinic literature codified in the
Talmud makes key distinctions in religious and legal contexts between Jews and the gentiles (literally, "the nations"). However,
Judaism teaches that all people are the creations of God and are commanded in the seven universal moral laws known as the Seven
Laws of Noah. In this aspect, Judaism is universalist in its divine message, but not in its religious obligations. In reform and
conservative Judaism, egalitarian refers to nullification of religious gender separations. Synagogues that identify as egalitarian allow
mixed seating (i.e. nomechitza) and allow women to leadservices with men in attendance as well as read publicly from theTorah.
Islam
The Islamic stance on equality stresses that all humans are equal in the eyes of God, regardless of gender, class and race. The Quran
states: "O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one
another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and
Acquainted".[23] Louise Marlow's Hierarchy and Egalitarianism in Islamic Thought compares the egalitarianism of early Islam to
current practice.[24]

Modern egalitarianism theory

Modern egalitarianism is a theory that rejects the classic definition of egalitarianism as a possible achievement economically,
politically and socially. Modern egalitarianism theory (or "new egalitarianism") outlines that if everyone had the same opportunity
cost, then there would be no comparative advances and no one would gain from trading with each other. In essence, the immense
gains people receive from trading with each other arise because they are unequal in characteristics and talents—these differences may
.[25]
be innate or developed so that people can gain from trading with each other

Reception
The cultural theory of risk holds egalitarianism as defined by (1) a negative attitude towards rules and principles; and (2) a positive
attitude towards group decision-making, with fatalism termed as its opposite.[26] The theory distinguishes between hierarchists, who
are positive towards both rules and groups; and egalitarianists, who are positive towards groups, but negative towards rules.[26] This
is by definition a form of "anarchist equality" as referred to by Berkman. The fabric of an "egalitarianist society" is thus held together
by cooperation and implicit peer pressure rather than by explicit rules and punishment. However, Thompson et al. theorise that any
society consisting of only one perspective, be it egalitarianist, hierarchist, individualist, fatalist or autonomist, will be inherently
unstable: the claim is that an interplay between all these perspectives are required if each perspective is to be fulfilling. For instance,
although an individualist according to cultural theory is aversive towards both principles and groups, individualism is not fulfilling if
individual brilliance cannot be recognised by groups, or if individual brilliance cannot be made permanent in the form of
principles.[26] Accordingly, egalitarianists have no power except through their presence, unless they (by definition, reluctantly)
embrace principles which enable them to cooperate with fatalists and hierarchists. They will also have no individual sense of
direction in the absence of a group. This could be mitigated by following individuals outside their group: autonomists or
individualists.

Alexander Berkman suggests that "equality does not mean an equal amount but equal opportunity [...] Do not make the mistake of
identifying equality in liberty with the forced equality of the convict camp. True anarchist equality implies freedom, not quantity. It
does not mean that every one must eat, drink, or wear the same things, do the same work, or live in the same manner. Far from it: the
very reverse in fact [...] Individual needs and tastes differ, as appetites differ. It is equal opportunity to satisfy them that constitutes
true equality [...] Far from levelling, such equality opens the door for the greatest possible variety of activity and development. For
human character is diverse".[27]

Marxism
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels believed that a revolution would bring about a socialist society which would then eventually give
way to a communist stage of social development, which would be a classless, stateless, humane society erected on common
ownership and the principle of "From each according to his ability
, to each according to his needs".

However, Marxism rejected egalitarianism in the sense of greater equality between classes, clearly distinguishing it from the socialist
notion of the abolition of classes based on the division between workers and owners of productive property. Marx's view of
classlessness was not the subordination of society to a universal interest (such as a universal notion of "equality"), but was about the
creation of the conditions that would enable individuals to pursue their true interests and desires—thus Marx's notion of communist
society is radically individualistic.[28]
Marx was a proponent of two principles, the first applied to socialism and the second to an advanced communist society: "To each
according to his contribution" and "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs". Although Marx's position
is often confused or conflated with distributive egalitarianism in which only the goods and services resulting from production are
distributed according to a notional equality, in reality Marx eschewed the entire concept of equality as abstract and bourgeois in
nature, preferring to focus on more concrete principles such as opposition to exploitation on materialist grounds and economic
logic.[29]

See also
"All men are created equal"
Anarchism
Basic income
Deep ecology
Discrimination
Elitism
Equal opportunity
Equality of outcome
Feminism
Same-sex marriage
Gift economy
Inequity aversion
Law of Jante
Left-wing politics
Meritocracy
Mutualism
Reciprocal altruism
Redistributive justice
Social equality
Speciesism

References
1. "Definition of equalitarianism"(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/equalitarianism). The Free Dictionary. Houghton
Mifflin Company. 2009.
2. "equalitarianism" (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/equalitarianism). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House.
Retrieved 2018-05-07.
3. "egalitarian" (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/egalitarian). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House. Retrieved
2018-05-07.
4. Arneson Richard, "Egalitarianism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy(2002.) Web:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/egalitarianism
5. Egalitarianism – Definition – Merriam-Webster Dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/egalitarianism)
6. The American Heritage Dictionary (2003)."egalitarianism" (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/egalitarianism).
7. John Gowdy (1998). Limited Wants, Unlimited Means: A reader onHunter-Gatherer Economics and the
Environment. St Louis: Island Press. p. 342.ISBN 1-55963-555-X.
8. Dahlberg, Frances. (1975).Woman the Gatherer (https://books.google.com/?id=eTPULzP1MZAC&pg=P
A120&dq=G
athering+and+Hominid+Adaptation). London: Yale university press. ISBN 0-300-02989-6.
9. Erdal, D. & Whiten, A. (1996) "Egalitarianism and Machiavellian Intelligence in Human Evolution" in Mellars,. &
P
Gibson, K. (eds) Modeling the Early Human Mind. Cambridge MacDonald Monograph Series.
10. Rosales, José María. "Liberalism, Civic Reformism and Democracy." 20th World Contress on Philosophy: Political
Philosophy. Web: 12 March 2010. Liberalism, Civic Reformism and Democracy(http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Poli/
PoliRosa.htm)
11. Sidanius, Jim, et al. "Social dominance orientation, anti‐egalitarianism and the political psychology of gender: an
extension and cross‐cultural replication." European Journal of Social Psychology 30.1 (2000): 41-67.
12. Denecke, Wiebke (2011).The Dynamics of Masters Literature: Early Chinese Thought from Confucius to Han Feizi
.
Harvard University Press. p. 38.
13. "Egalitarianism" (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/egalitarianism/#KarMarEquRig)
. Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. 16 August 2002. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
14. Socialism vs Social Democracy as Income-Equalizing Institutions
, by Roemer, John. 2008. Eastern Economic
Journal, vol. 34, issue 1, pp. 14–26.
15. Persson, I. (1993) “A basis for (interspecies) equality”, in Cavalieri, .P& Singer, P. (eds.) The Great Ape Project, New
York: St. Martin’s Press, pp. 183-193.
16. Vallentyne, P. (2005) “Of mice and men: Equality and animals”, Journal of Ethics, 9, pp. 403-433.
17. Holtug, N. (2007) “Equality for animals,” in Ryberg, J.; Petersen, .TS. & Wolf, C. (eds.) New waves in applied ethics,
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-24.
18. Gompertz, L. (1997 [1824]) Moral inquiries on the situation of man and of brutes, London: Open Gate.
19. Horta, Oscar (2014) "Egalitarianism and Animals," Between the Species: ol.
V 19: Iss. 1, Article 5.Available at:
http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/bts/vol19/iss1/5
20. Darshan, S. T. "7 Sikhism and development:a perfect match?." Handbook of Research on Development and
Religion (2013): 97.
21. Singh, I. J. "What sikhism says about gender and sex." International Sikh Conferences. 2004.
22. Stagg, Evelyn and Frank.Woman in the World of Jesus.Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1978.ISBN 0-664-24195-
6
23. The Quran 49:13 – English translation by Saheeh International
24. Poonawala, Ismail K. (Summer 1999)."Hierarchy and Egalitarianism in Islamic Thought by Louise Marlow"(https://w
ww.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4311272?uid=3739560&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=2 1104297963707).
www.jstor.org. Iranian Studies Vol. 32, No. 3 (Summer, 1999), pp. 405–407. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
25. Whaples, Robert M. (2017)."Egalitarianism:Fair and Equal? New Thinking on Egalitarianism"(http://www.independe
nt.org/pdf/tir/tir_22_1_01_whaples.pdf)(PDF). The Independent Review. Archived from the original (http://0-web.b.e
bscohost.com.millenium.itesm.mx/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&sid=f2c02b96-fed4-4085-a57d-9fef664ae057%
40sessionmgr101) on 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
26. Thompson et al., Cultural Theory (1990)
27. Alexander Berkman What is Anarchism? pp. 164–165.
28. Karl Marx on Equality, by Woods, Allen. http://philosophy.fas.nyu.edu/docs/IO/19808/Allen-Wood-Marx-on-
Equality.pdf: "Marx thinks the idea of equality is actually a vehicle for bourgeois class oppression, and something
quite different from the communist goal of theabolition of classes ... A society that has transcended class
antagonisms, therefore, would not be one in which some truly universal interest at last reigns, to which individual
interests must be sacrificed."
29. Rejecting Egalitarianism, by Nielsen, Kai. 1987. Political Theory
, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Aug., 1987), pp. 411–423.

External links
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

Egalitarianism.
Moral Egalitarianism.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

Egalitarianism, by R. Arneson (2002).

Equality, by S. Gosepath (2007).
Equality of opportunity, by R. Arneson (2002).
Lepowsky, Maria. 1993. Fruit of the Motherland: Gender in an Egalitarian Society
. New York: Columbia University
Press.
The Equality Studies Centre
Twin Oaks Intentional Community
 Federation of Egalitarian Communities

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