Justice and the Meritocratic State (Political Philosophy for the Real World)

Description

Like American politics, the academic debate over justice is polarized, with almost all theories of justice falling within one of two traditions: egalitarianism and libertarianism. This book provides an alternative to the partisan standoff by focusing not on equality or liberty, but on the idea that we should give people the things that they deserve. Mulligan sets forth a theory of economic justice―meritocracy―which rests upon a desert principle and is distinctive from existing work in two ways. First, meritocracy is grounded in empirical research on how human beings think, intuitively, about justice. Research in social psychology and experimental economics reveals that people simply don’t think that social goods should be distributed equally, nor do they dismiss the idea of social justice. Across ideological and cultural lines, people believe that rewards should reflect merit. Second, the book discusses hot-button political issues and makes concrete policy recommendations. These issues include anti-meritocratic bias against women and racial minorities and the United States’ widening economic inequality. Justice and the Meritocratic State offers a new theory of justice and provides solutions to our most vexing social and economic problems. It will be of keen interest to philosophers, economists, and political theorists. Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgements PART I On Justice 1 Meritocracy: The Basics 1.1 Why Meritocracy? 1.2 A Brief History of Meritocracy 1.3 Remarks on the Assumptions of This Work 1.4 References 2 The Metatheory of Justice 2.1 The Scope of Justice 2.2 On the Distinction Between Justice and Morality 2.3 Efficiency and Three Requirements of Justice 2.4 Ideal and Non-Ideal Theory 2.5 Situating Meritocracy in the Debate About Justice 2.6 References 3 What We Think About Justice and Why It Matters 3.1 Human Beings Are Not Selfish 3.2 The Content of Justice 3.3 Children and Justice 3.4 Cultural Stability and Support for Redistribution 3.5 Rejecting Rawlsian Justice 3.6 The Importance of Intuition 3.7 References PART II A Meritocratic Theory of Economic Justice 4 The Foundation of Meritocracy 4.1 The Concept of Desert 4.2 The Connection Between Merit and Desert 4.3 No Justice Without Equal Opportunity 4.4 Elaborating Equal Opportunity 4.5 Equal Opportunity and the Family 4.6 On the Difference Between Luck Egalitarianism and Desert-Based Justice 4.7 Desert Is Never Forward-Looking 4.8 The Justice/Efficiency “Trade-Off”, Part 1 4.9 References 5 On the Distribution of Jobs 5.1 Meritocratic Hiring: Whetting the Intuition 5.2 Why Should We Hire on the Basis of Merit? 5.3 How Do We Hire on the Basis of Merit? 5.4 Conceptual Complexities 5.5 Meritocracy Is a Fair Social Framework 5.6 Meritocracy Minimizes Resentment 5.7 On the Importance of Second Chances 5.8 Fulfilling Fiduciary Duties 5.9 Just and Unjust Discrimination 5.10 The Curious Case of Political Competence 5.11 The Justice/Efficiency “Trade-Off”, Part 2 5.12 References 6 On the Distribution of Income 6.1 Money in a Meritocracy 6.2 Determining the Desert Basis 6.3 What Is the Deserved Income? 6.4 Economic Rents Are Undeserved 6.5 What Would a Meritocratic Economy Look Like? 6.6 On Solidarity 6.7 The Myth of Neutrality 6.8 Problems With Libertarian Economic Theory 6.9 Positive Liberty and Personal Responsibility 6.10 On the Possibility of a Social Safety Net 6.11 The Justice/Efficiency “Trade-Off”, Part 3 6.12 References 7 Defending Desert From John Rawls 7.1 Rawls’s Influence on the Desert Debate 7.2 Two Other Rawlsian Objections to Desert 7.3 Rawls Against Desert 7.4 The Essentiality of Origin 7.5 What’s Wrong With Rawls 7.6 Some Conceptual Clarifications 7.7 Considering an Objection 7.8 One Final Note 7.9 References PART III Meritocratic Public Policy 8 Meritocratic Taxation 8.1 How Have Scholars Thought About Taxation? 8.2 Taxing Economic Rents 8.3 Pigovian Taxes and the Provision of Public Goods 8.4 A New Inheritance Tax 8.5 Is All Unearned Income Undeserved? 8.6 Desert-Based Taxation: Efficient and Progressive 8.7 References 9 Meritocratic Social Programs and Final Matters 9.1 On Schooling 9.2 (Most) Affirmative Action Is Unjust 9.3 Structuring Social Spending 9.4 Positive Predictions of Meritocracy 9.5 Justice in Our Lifetimes 9.6 References Index