Abstract
The very use of the term ‘equality’ is often clouded by imprecise and inconsistent meanings. For example, ‘equality’ is used to mean equality before the law (equality of treatment by authorities), equality of opportunity (equality of chances in the economic system), and equality of result (equal distribution of goods), among other things. These different meanings often conflict, and are almost never wholly consistent. See Hayek (1960, p. 85; 1976, pp. 62–4) for a discussion of equality before the law and equality of result, and Rawls (1971) for a discussion of equality of opportunity within a theory of distributive justice. Elsewhere I have discussed the difference between equality of opportunity and equality of result in education (Coleman 1975). See also Pole (1978) for a detailed examination of the changing conceptions of equality in American history.
This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, 1st edition, 1987. Edited by John Eatwell, Murray Milgate and Peter Newman
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Coleman, J.S. (1987). Equality. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_408-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_408-1
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