The Pursuit of Equality in the West

Aldo Schiavone offers a fresh perspective on equality in Western political and legal thought, proposing a model based on the universality of the impersonal human that coexists with the sea of differences that makes each of us unique.

Format: Hardback
Length: 376 pages
Publication date: 05 August 2022
Publisher: Harvard University Press

One of the world's foremost historians of Western political and legal thought has proposed a bold new model for thinking about equality at a time when its absence threatens democracies everywhere.

How much equality does democracy need to survive? Political thinkers have wrestled with that question for millennia. Aristotle argued that some are born to command and others to obey. Antiphon believed that men, at least, were born equal. Later, the Romans upended the debate by asking whether citizens were equals not in ruling but in standing before the law. Aldo Schiavone guides us through these and other historical thickets, from the first democracy to the present day, seeking solutions to the enduring tension between democracy and inequality.

Turning from Antiquity to the modern world, Schiavone shows how the American and the French revolutions attempted to settle old debates, introducing a new way of thinking about equality. Both the French revolutionaries and the American colonists sought democracy and equality together, but the European tradition (British Labour, Russian and Eastern European Marxists, and Northern European social democrats) saw formal equality—equality before the law—as a means of obtaining economic equality. The American model, in contrast, adopted formal equality while setting aside the goal of economic equality.

The Pursuit of Equality in the West argues that the United States and European models were compatible with industrial-age democracy, but neither suffices in the face of today's technological revolution. Opposing both atomization and the obsolete myths of the collective, Schiavone thinks equality anew, proposing a model founded on neither individualism nor the erasure of the individual but rather on the universality of the impersonal human, which he calls "the universal person."

This model recognizes that individuals are not equal in their abilities or circumstances, but it also recognizes that they are all equal in their fundamental humanity. It seeks to create a society that is fair and just for all, regardless of their background or circumstances. Schiavone believes that this model can help to address the challenges facing democracies today, such as economic inequality, social exclusion, and political polarization. He argues that it is essential to create a society that values both individual freedom and social responsibility, and that it is possible to achieve this through a combination of political, economic, and social reforms.

In conclusion, Schiavone's model for thinking about equality is a bold and innovative approach to a pressing issue facing democracies today. It recognizes that individuals are not equal in their abilities or circumstances, but it also recognizes that they are all equal in their fundamental humanity. By creating a society that values both individual freedom and social responsibility, we can achieve a fair and just society for all.

Dimension: 235 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780674975750