Theories of just distribution
Distributive justice is, as the name suggests, concerned with the just distribution of
resources. It must be distinguished from retributivejustice, which is concerned with
how a punishment fits a crime. What might be the basis for the distribution of
wealth? Here are some possibilities:- Threat advantage The amount a person earns is the result of that person’s relative
bargaining power. - Need Everyone should have their needs satisfied – there should be a guaranteed
minimum set of resources equivalent to that required to satisfy those needs. - Desert If you work hard and as a consequence increase your earnings relative
to others you deserve to keep those additional earnings. - Freedom The pattern of distribution is the result of the choices people make –
if you have a product that others chooseto buy, in buying the product other
people have consentedto the income you gain from selling it, and therefore also
to any resulting inequality. - Labour The profit made from the sale of commodities should reflect the
contribution that the producer (labourer) makes to the commodity. - Maximise utility We should aim to maximise the overall level of utility in society;
‘utility’ may be defined as happiness, pleasure, welfare or preference satisfaction. - EqualityResources should be distributed equally.
- Priority to the worst off The worst off should be as well off as possible.
Rather than run through all these options we will focus on the work of three
thinkers – John Rawls (1921–2002), Robert Nozick (1938–2002) and Gerald Cohen
(1941–2009). In the course of the discussion comments will be made on all the
above options. Although the focus is on social justice, as distinct from justice as
an individual virtue, is a very recent development, there is a history to these
contemporary debates, as will be particularly evident in the discussion of Nozick.
Furthermore, the debate over social justice set out in this chapter connects to an
even more recent development: the concern with global justice, which we discuss
in Chapter 22.Rawls: an egalitarian liberal theory of justice
Rawls’s book A Theory of Justice(1972) had a huge impact on political philosophy.
In it he advances a method for making moral decisions about the distribution of
resources – not just material resources, but also freedom and political power – and
argues that the operation of that method would result in a particular conception
of justice, one which is significantly ‘redistributivist’ (or egalitarian).
Rawls locates his work in the social contract tradition of Locke, Rousseau and
Kant, and indeed he is credited with reviving this tradition, which had gone into
decline after about 1800. The classical idea of the contract was that it was the
device by which power was legitimated: it is rational from the standpoint of the78 Part 1 Classical ideas