Egalitarianism and the Generation of Inequality

The belief that the existing distributions of income and wealth in Western countries are unjust has come to be widely held, and has prompted the inclusion of egalitarian measures in many political programmes. This work uses the methods of reasoned history and comparative statistics to arrive at an assessment of egalitarianism. This book is intended for economists, economic historians, political historians, sociologists, and political philosophers.Table of ContentPart 1 The rise of egalitarianism: early principles of inequality and equality; the transition to liberalism; the equality of man in the 18th century; 18th century developments propitious to egalitarianism; action delayed; the movement into redistribution; the formation of modern egalitarianism; issues and influences reviewed. Part 2 Distributions of income and wealth in the living economy: distributions displayed; the form of recent distributions of income; the historical course of change in the distribution of income; the redistribution of income; the distribution of wealth in some contemporary economies; the historical course of change in the distribution of wealth; the formation of distributions of income and wealth; the significance of the statistical record. Part 3 Egalitarianism analyzed and assessed: the basis of egalitarianism; an assessment of egalitarianism.