Repenser l'inégalité (L'Histoire immédiate)

by Sen Amartya

Comment lutter efficacement contre le retour – massif – des inégalités sociales, sans retomber dans l'ornière d'un égalitarisme abstrait dont toute l'histoire du siècle a montré les dangers ? Telle est la question – aujourd'hui centrale – posée ici par un grand théoricien mondialement respecté, Amartya Sen. Selon lui, il est urgent de réconcilier l'engagement moral en faveur de l'égalité et la rationalité économique. Pour ce faire, on doit nécessairement procéder à une " remise à plat " des concepts fondamentaux sur lesquels se fonde notre appréciation de l'égalité, de la diversité humaine, de la " capabilité " ou du bien-être social. " Ignorer les distinctions entre les individus peut en réalité se révéler très inégalitaire ", écrit-il, en contestant certaines analyses de John Rawls. L'égalité réelle exige des mesures particulièrement étendues et complexes lorsqu'il s'agit de contrarier un lourd héritage d'inégalité. "

Genres: Economics, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Politics, Sociology, Social Justice, India

Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Bekhradaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

۹۸

نقش اصلی پرسش "برابری چه چیز؟" باعث میشود ما بتوانیم اختلاف نظرهای میان مکتب‌های مختلف فکری را در این ببینیم که هر یک چه چیزی را مساله محوری اجتماعی می‌شمارد و در نتیجه خواستار برابری در آن است... خواست برابری بر حسب یک متغیر احتمالا باعث می‌شود که نظریه مورد نظر خواهان نابرابری در متغیر دیگر باشد... خواست برابری در آنچه که مساله "محوری" اجتماعی به شمار میرود، با نابرابری در "حاشیه" های دورتر این مساله محوری همراه است.

97
در تحلیل و برآورد برابری، پرسش محوری "برابری چه چیز؟" است. ... یکی از خصوصیات مشترک تقریبا تمام رویکردهای اخلاقی به ساماندهی های اجتماعی که ماندگار بوده اند این است که برابری چیزی را طلبیده اند ... تصور اینکه نزاع اصلی نزاعی است میان "موافقان" برابری و "مخالفان" آن ... به معنی ندیدن اصل موضوع است

[C.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is probably one of the most inspiring books that I read recently. It makes such a clear elucidation on the issue of inequality and touches the important concepts in thinking about inequality. I won't go much into details at summarizing its main points, but if you are thinking about inequality, please read this book.

(Main points in bullet for my record:
- You got to think about the question, inequality of what?
- You cannot ignore the diversity of human condition such as family background, race, socio-economic condition, etc, when you are thinking about inequality.
- It is inequality of capability that matters. Capability is defined as the real opportunity and ability for individual to achieve what he deems as important in life

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exactly light reading, but better than most economists. Basically asking, equality of what? Freedom? Ability? Income? Opportunity? Sometimes equalities are in opposition to one another. He makes the case for equality of capability (to pursue needs, desires, happiness..)

[Julie White · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important discussion of justice in policy. Dense, but you don't have to be an economist to understand it.

[Jessica Fear · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple message at its heart: you can't talk of inequality in general terms but rather ought to ask "inequality of what?" Nor can you talk about it in purely negative terms because, Sen points out, we are all naturally unequal in our talents, abilities etc. and so crudely levelling the playing field (through, for example, income redistribution) would not only be pointless but unfair.

I gather, therefore, that the book's message is that we should ensure everyone has equal capability to turn primary goods into possibilities for betterment: equity, not equality. This is a good message and one I can broadly subscribe to.

BUT I did find the book a bit dry and a bit abstract. I did not get the impression that this was written with a mass, mainstream audience in mind. Neither is it a book filled with concrete examples of how this theory would translate into practice, which left me wondering whether it's all talk and no trousers.

[James Igoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most basic idea, that one person's equality is another's inequality, is explored in detail. Sen illuminates many of the flaws in standard economic thinking, and how the philosophical underpinnings of economics guide and distort economic reasoning.

[Benjamin Pedersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grundlæggende en akademisk værktøjskasse til at forstå ulighed, og kritik af de ofte anvendte metoder.
Bogen har dog oftest ikke konkrete forslag til en anden examination af ulighed...

Capability sets > Utility sets

Alligevel super interessant!

[Leonardo]

Citado en los artículos de Comim y de Pugno en Capabilities and Happiness.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exceptional overview of the challenge the concept of equality has for distinct economic and political theories. As well as being an argument for a capabilities approach to welfare economics, Sen reviews in turn different alternative theories by asking the simple question: equality of what? He provides, in turn, a series of assessments of libertarian, utilitarian and Rawlsian theories showing how each one answers the question, equality of what differently while each also ends up in an aporia, either with outright contradiction or through an inability to address the limits of the theoretical framework. Libertarianism, for example, can't account for economic inequalities and the material impact wealth distribution has upon the exercise of rights; utilitarianism's aggregation can't distinguish between disparities, Rawls ends up tolerating inequalities in outcomes. Throughout Sen contrasts these approaches with his own, to identify the value of a capabilities approach which, though also limited, is able to answer many of the problems posed by the alternatives under consideration in the book.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sen argues that when you discuss inequality, you first need to define your terms. Equality of what? Equality of income equates to inequality of freedom and equality of freedom means wealth inequality and so on and so on. He argues for a capability approach to the inequality problem which takes into account a person's actual ability to achieve their valued goals. The capability approach values real freedom, which recognizes that someone living in poverty is not actually free. The book can be a little dry and academic, but it made me think about the topic in a new way and raised more questions for me to think about in the future (which is good).

[Diego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amartya Sen en esta monografía presenta dos preguntas clave ¿Qué es la desigualdad? y ¿Qué tipo de desigualdad es la que nos importa? para hacerlo hace una presentación de distintas teorías "igualitarias" como las de Rawls, Nozick y Dworkin entre otros y hace una evaluación de su teoría de las capacidades como fuentes de libertad para poder alcanzar la igualdad.

Es un libro recomendable para los interesados en la desigualdad, pobreza no sólo desde el punto de vista económico, sino desde diversas visiones tanto de la filosofía política como de la teoría de la justicia.

[Federico · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short book is a goldmine. If you're interested in the issues of (in)equality and (in)equity, it's a must read. Every single day I encounter so many people who waste everybody's time because they failed to digest their essential Amartya Sen.

[Ben Harrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this following Development as Freedom. Like most of Sen's work, the writing is very academic but the book continues Sen's thoughts on development and the role/reality/nature of inequality. He continues to develop and explore the concept of capability theory.

[Matthias Moeser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very important ideas, laid out in so much detail that they become evident, in a style of writing which is at times very dry and most of the time harder to grasp than necessary.

[Mayank Bawari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Closer to a PhD thesis than a mass read

[Eliza Wojciechowska · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very detailed book which resembles kind of an introduction to the study about inequality. In my opinion its aim is to inform about social inequality, especially those who are struggling to understand the reasons of this phenomenon. The content of a book forces a reader to think about inequality as a real life-subject and gives a chance to take a closer look at the matter of interdependent political, economical, psychological and most of all sociological factors that are taking part in the entire process of circulation that concerns rights, resources, capital. The author of the issues examines everything without personal, subjective critique over matters that are mentioned. Thanks to such an approach, the reader is forced to personal, analytical assessment. The author is very objective and it looks like the purpose of the book was to treat it as a handbook of concepts. It may be a great reading to further analytical work on terms that are discussed and exhaustively supplemented with footnotes and remarks. We may find here statistical proofs and many annotations which are a source of reliable data. I am glad that I've found here a definition of Robert Nozick's theory as well as John Rawls' "theory of justice and fairness".
Finally, I may rate it as a well-written, professional guide to political and philosophical thought.

[Matt Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good book that articulated the idea of capabilities and functionings really clearly - and provided plenty of outside references for people who want to dig into more detail.

For a summary type of book I would have expected more examples of types of individual who struggle to translate access to primary goods into capabilities. The disability example is great, but having fleshed out examples of other types would help me to figure out if I really understand the view and distinctions.

[Clarissa]

Libro molto interessante che però andrebbe letto dopo aver letto Risorse, valori e sviluppo, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 1992 e La diseguaglianza, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1994 sempre dello stesso autore.

[Aida · Rating 3 out of 5]

serious stuff, complete with diagrams. a book for those wanting to understand inequality from a "third world" perspective.