Equality: The History of an Elusive Idea

by Darrin M. McMahon

WINNER OF THE 2024 JACQUES BARZUN PRIZE IN CULTURAL HISTORY

Equality is in crisis. Our world is filled with soaring inequalities, spanning wealth, race, identity, and nationality. Yet how can we strive for equality if we don't understand it? As much as we have struggled for equality, we have always been profoundly sceptical about it. How much do we want, and for whom?

Darrin M. McMahon's Equality is the definitive intellectual history, tracing equality's global origins and spread from the dawn of humanity through the Enlightenment to today. Equality has been reimagined continually, in the great world religions and the politics of the ancient world, by revolutionaries and socialists, Nazis and fascists, and post-war reformers and activists.

A magisterial exploration of why equality matters and why we continue to reimagine it, Equality offers all the tools to rethink equality anew for our own age.

Genres: History, Philosophy, Politics, Nonfiction, Economics, Sociology

528 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2023

About the author

Darrin M. McMahon is a historian, author, and public speaker, who lives in Tallahassee, Florida, and the Ben Weider Professor of History at Florida State University.

Reviews

[Bryson Handy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a fascinating overview of the history of ideas about equality. The author does not just chart the history of social movements, but rather explains the fundamental ideologies that shaped ideas about equality throughout history. Moving from our biological predisposition for hierarchy, but also for resistance, the author posits some theories for the origins of civilizations (and thus the origins of large inequalities within human groups). After covering equality under Greece and Rome (which I was rather familiar with, through as a former Latin student I appreciate his etymological explanations of various terms), the author delves into the effects of Christianity on European and later perceptions of equality. I think this Christian ethos dominated ideas about equality right through the 20th century and still influence how we think about equality today. The author also stresses the point that equality does not mean all human being are considered equal, and in fact for most of human history equality and domination were not viewed as contradictory. I think this is a point many of us in modernity fail to fully grasp, making it harder to understand how our fore-bearers structured the with social relations. I also think the distinction between equality and inequality is useful. The author sets this out at the consent, explaining the book is not about inequality, and he does not disappoint. He explains that our relentless focus on inequality in the modern age condones our imagination to merely limiting excessive inequality or trying to raise the value of the have-nots while decreasing the value of the haves. However, this line of thinking sometimes limits our ability to pursue real progressive change at the heart of society. It limits our ability to reach true equality, whatever it may be.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished reading this book. Finally! This is not an easy read. I found myself re-reading paragraphs and pages as I could not drift off or I would get lost from the point but it is a fascinating read about an idea that truly has always been quite elusive. 😉 I think one could read this book and end with a feeling of humanity’s overwhelming failure at achieving equality, in spite of their grandiose schemes and lofty ideals, and look around and say what’s the point… If I am being my most honest I feel that a bit. Because equality is ephemeral, it changes based on the perspective of the beholder, and to make drastic change we have to find people who hold that same elusive vision of equality, and how can we when we are all so different? BUT this reader reached the end of this book and took hope. Because in my mind that IS McMahon’s point. Equality is elusive, maybe it always will be but it is in the STRIVING to achieve it that has made humanity great. And great not because we always got it correct (he does an overwhelmingly disturbing chapter on equality and domination that very easily might break a person) but because there were those among us who had a dream. Who though they were imperfect or maybe even took the concept completely off the rails, they made the effort, and sometimes even made a difference. I would recommend this book to the thinkers of the world, those who still believe that a better world CAN be achieved. Those of you/us who can see where we came from and envision a new path forward.

[Brandon Westlake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never really thought about how the idea of equality has been shaped through history. It's always been an equality vs inequality idea, but Darrin McMahon provides a key argument that there's a story that has been missing. Undoubtedly, it will ruffle some feathers; those who focus on the typical dichotomy will feel uncomfortable with McMahon's insistence that equality cannot be achieved in every respect, nor should it. Others may find it unnerving that equality, rather than being an Enlightenment realization, has been a far older creation. The evolution of the idea though does not equate into the need for it to be dismissed.
McMahon makes it clear that equality is context dependent, as much other philosophical ideas. Early civilizations saw equality through their own lenses as did Europe in the Middle Ages. Jefferson's ideas, while his rhetorical flourish was unique, were not an awakening.

Again, McMahon spends time looking at the limits of equality, and where humanity has tried to make the case that fairness is not equality, and sometimes inequality may be better. To aspire to equality, a sense, rejects the uniqueness and individuality of fellow citizens and social groups. This book is a powerful interpretation of a tightly-held idea

[Roland Glotzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the book I expected it to be as I thought it would discuss economic and social inequality.The scope of this book is much broader discussing the history of the philosophy of equality in all its aspects including wealth but also gender, race, nations, etc..
While the subject is interesting I found it excessively long, too focused on the West (hardly a discussion of the Indian caste system which is an extreme form of inequality) and in a heavy style with some extremely long sentences of 8 lines or more.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A challenging read. The chapter on Greece was especially noteworthy.