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Author Wyatt, Chris, 1963-

Title The difference principle beyond Rawls / Chris Wyatt
Published New York : Continuum, ©2008

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Description 1 online resource (vii, 182 pages)
Contents Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Rawls' Theory of Justice -- Chapter 2. Cole's Libertarian Socialism -- Chapter 3. The Political Economy of New Economic Democracy -- Chapter 4. From Property-Owning Democracy to Property-Controlling Democracy -- Chapter 5. Political Liberalism -- Conclusion -- Bibliography
Summary "Since the publication of John Rawls' A Theory of Justice (1971) - followed up by Political Liberalism (1993) and Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (2001) - discussions on social justice and redistributive liberalism have taken center stage in contemporary political theory. This book adds to an enormous body of literature. It does not question Rawlsian principles, but it does reject the liberal institutions he advocates. A debate is constructed in which his liberalism is contrasted with a libertarian socialism informed by the English theorist of guild socialism G.D.H. Cole (1889-1959). These two authors visualize alternative macro socio-economic schemes. Although they are set within modern liberal and libertarian socialist frameworks respectively, they share a commitment to reducing vast inequalities in wealth. Central to the Rawlsian scheme is the difference principle - that inequalities are only permitted if they benefit the least well off. Rawls proposes that citizens deliberating without awareness of subjective talents - a collective lack of knowledge captured by the Rawlsian term the veil of ignorance - will be compelled to prioritize a society structured to accommodate this principle to other systems in which inequalities are allowed to concentrate with lesser degrees of regulation. This assertion will not be challenged. However, it is shown how the difference principle will be more easily realized in the left libertarian scheme, in which the author defends. The argument is that Rawlsian premises point to a more radical conclusion than Rawls acknowledges."--Bloomsbury Publishing
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 167-171) and index
Notes English
Subject Rawls, John, 1921-2002.
Cole, G. D. H. (George Douglas Howard), 1889-1959.
Cole, G. D. H. (George Douglas Howard), 1889-1959
Rawls, John, 1921-2002
Liberalism.
Distributive justice.
Free enterprise.
liberalism.
Political ideologies.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Essays.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Government -- General.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Government -- National.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Reference.
Free enterprise
Distributive justice
Liberalism
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781501301780
1501301780
9781441155276
1441155279
0826429424
9780826429421
1441134867
9781441134868