The Rise of the Equalities Industry - Softcover

Saunders, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1906837333 ISBN 13: 9781906837334

Publisher: Civitas/Inst for the Study of, 2011

Synopsis

To be against equality is to support unfair treatment, and who wants to be unfair? We now have a considerable body of legislation, regulation, monitoring and investigation to ensure that our society respects equality. But what sort of equality do we mean? Peter Saunders identifies three types. Formal equality - equality before the law and equal political rights - is uncontroversial. So is the second sort of equality - equality of opportunity. We should all have a fair chance to pursue our goals. But the third sort - equality of outcomes - is not of the same nature. We all have different capacities and are motivated to pursue different objectives. Deploying the powers of government to impose equal results suppresses the diversity of talents, aspirations and ideals that make us human. However, public policy is based on what Peter Saunders calls the 'fallacy of proportionate outcomes', which assumes that any average difference between groups of people must result from the operation of systematic bias. The Equalities Industry, which Peter Saunders shows to be vast and almost unopposed, sets out to eradicate bias that is often non-existent and sometimes invented. Consequently, its remedies are not only costly but threaten the freedoms we value in a liberal democracy.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Saunders is a Professorial Fellow of Civitas, and author of Social Mobility Myths, published by Civitas in 2010. Until 1999, he was Professor of Sociology at the University of Sussex, where he is still Professor Emeritus, and he has held visiting academic posts at universities in Australia, Germany, New Zealand and the United States. After 1999, he worked as Research Manager at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, and as Social Research Director at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, where he remains a Distinguished Fellow. In 2008 he returned to the UK where he is an independent writer and consultant. In addition to his work for Civitas, his publications include A Nation of Home Owners; Capitalism-A Social Audit; Social Theory and the Urban Question; Introduction to British Politics; Privatisation and Popular Capitalism, Australia's welfare habit and how to kick it and, most recently, When Prophecy Fails.

Review

'An outstandingly authoritative and compelling expose' David Conways, Emeritus Professor, Middlesex University 'An excellent and well reasoned review' Neil Addison, barrister and writer on human rights and discrimination 'A brilliant book... notably fair minded' Professor Kenneth Minogue, London School of Economics

About this edition

• Publisher: Civitas/Inst for the Study of
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1906837333
• ISBN 13: 9781906837334
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 186