Equality of opportunities - theorical and bevioral public policy

Résumé du document

The subject of equal opportunities has been more and more present in today's modern societies for many decades now. Some use it as a descriptive term for an approach intended to provide a certain social environment in which people are not excluded from the activities of society, such as education, employment, or health care, on the basis of immutable traits.

This led to the principle of affirmative action, where a society recognizes that some individuals may face more difficulties than the others in several situations (when it comes to get a job, or rent an apartment for instance), and then decides to help these people in order to compensate the original inequality.

Some theorists compare it as an inequality to erase a first inequality. Then, the concept of equal opportunity is closely aligned with the concept of equality before the law, and ideas of meritocracy, but mustn't be confounded with the concept of equality of outcomes; individuals may have the same chances to attain a certain level of welfare, but some of them may happen not to attain it, for personal or contextual reasons.

Extraits

[...] Instead, one's achieved level of welfare should depend solely on the effort that one exerts in life (principle of meritocracy). Once the society is ready to accept the principle of equal opportunities, or even asks for it, then a state may have enough power to implement policies of equality. Furthermore, the state seems to be a necessary condition to achieve this equality of opportunity; indeed, the actions of a government have an impact on the whole population and can implement global actions which affect each individual. The next part highlights the methods available to promote the equality of opportunity. [...]

[...] What can be said when it comes to equality of opportunity between people? Governmental policies looking for equal opportunities are justified if, first, individuals have a desire for that, and second, if the state can improve the level of equality. Numerous studies show that individuals prefer a society where people face an equality of treatment and contribute to public goods for a same amount, and encounter a certain disutility when their wealth becomes larger and larger compare to the other individuals'. [...]

[...] That's why the only power of a state in not enough to face the inequalities of opportunity. What else could change this situation? External factors, such as the maturity of the multimedia industry and the revolution of means of communication, may play a role in the equality of opportunities. Indeed, Internet permits everyone to have access to a same knowledge, disregarding one's religion and one's opinion (however, this technology still happens to be restricted in some countries of the world). [...]

[...] Governments have to be aware of what would generate an (idealistic) society of complete equality among individuals, for the good of individuals themselves and therefore for the good and the sustainability of such a society. Sources Publications : - Ostrom et al. (“Revisiting the Commons: Local Lessons, Global Challenges”, in Science's Compass Review, Vol on 9 April 1999) -John Romer (John E. Roemer's interview in Political Questions: 5 Questions on Political Philosophy, edited by Morten Ebbe Juul Nielsen, released in December 2006) -Donaldson et al. (“Equity & Excellence in Education”, 2009) Articles : -Kosfeld et al. [...]

[...] Part What can implement the state to achieve the goal of equal opportunities among its population? In his book “Equality of opportunity”, John Romer argues that democracy as a political mechanism cannot guarantee, even in the long run, that an individual's prospects will be independent of the wealth or education of his/her parents, and thus we cannot rely on democracy alone for implementing the equality of opportunity concept of justice. That's why we analyze here, first, the state's actions and, second, other parameters to achieve this equality. [...]