Abstract
The author addresses from a philosophical point of view the normative question of which forms of inequality the modern state in general—and the welfare state in particular—seeks, and ought to seek, to transform. This article distinguishes four requirements of equality that states must generally fulfil: formal, proportional, moral and relational equality. Welfare systems in particular should set a ‘social minimum’ below which no individual is allowed to fall as a result of poverty, illness and so on, and, in addition, should promote greater equality of resources among citizens in order to avoid economic inequalities that result from operations of the market economy, since inequalities that do not derive from self-chosen options are to be rejected as unjust.
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Gosepath, S. (2016). Philosophical Perspectives on Different Kinds of Inequalities. In: Wulfgramm, M., Bieber, T., Leibfried, S. (eds) Welfare State Transformations and Inequality in OECD Countries. Transformations of the State. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51184-3_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51184-3_4
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