Justice and the Meritocratic State
Proposal review
Abstract
Like American politics, the academic debate over justice is polarized, with almost all theories of justice falling within one of two traditions: egalitarianism and libertarianism. This book provides an alternative to the partisan standoff by focusing not on equality or liberty, but on the idea that we should give people the things that they deserve. Mulligan sets forth a theory of economic justice—meritocracy—which rests upon a desert principle and is distinctive from existing work in two ways. First, meritocracy is grounded in empirical research on how human beings think, intuitively, about justice. Research in social psychology and experimental economics reveals that people simply don’t think that social goods should be distributed equally, nor do they dismiss the idea of social justice. Across ideological and cultural lines, people believe that rewards should reflect merit. Second, the book discusses hot-button political issues and makes concrete policy recommendations. These issues include anti-meritocratic bias against women and racial minorities and the United States’ widening economic inequality.Justice and the Meritocratic State offers a new theory of justice and provides solutions to our most vexing social and economic problems. It will be of keen interest to philosophers, economists, and political theorists.
Keywords
Top Marginal Income Tax Rate; Meritorious Applicant; Justice and the Meritocratic State; Desert Basis; justice; Current Social Welfare System; economic justice; Young Man; John Rawls; Child’s Future Ability; Robert Nozick; Luck Egalitarian; political philosophy; Meritocratic Hiring; egalitarianism; Equal Opportunity Framework; libertarianism; Meritorious Contributions; meritocracy; Meritocratic Framework; equality; Desert Object; liberty; Meritocratic Ideal; David Miller; Reflective Equilibrium; George Sher; ViolateDOI
10.4324/9781315270005ISBN
9781351980777, 9781351980753, 9780367372286, 9781351980760, 9781138283800, 9781315270005, 9781351980777OCN
1051320611Publisher
Taylor & FrancisPublisher website
https://taylorandfrancis.com/Publication date and place
Oxford, 2017Imprint
RoutledgeSeries
Political Philosophy for the Real World,Classification
Social and political philosophy
Political economy
Economic theory and philosophy
Centrist democratic ideologies
Social discrimination and social justice
Public administration
Sociology