Equality of opportunity The equalisation of the opportunity to acquire certain
things, or, at least, guaranteeing that each person has a specified chance of acquiring
those things.
Essentialism An attitude that stresses the importance of one determining attribute
and ignores all others.
Ethnic nationalism The view that nations are held together by ethnic ties (see
ethnicity). The competing view is civic nationalism.
Ethnicity The identification of a culture with tangible, visual symbols and signs
such as dress, food or religious observance. (See alsorace)
Fascism A movement or political and social system that rejects parliamentary
democracy, bans other political parties and movements, is hostile to the ideas of
the Enlightenment and liberalism, and is particularly opposed to socialism and
Marxism.
Feminism A theory that works for the emancipation of women.
Force A pressure that undermines the agency of individuals by physically harming
them.
Freedom (or liberty) The absence of constraint, or, alternatively, the existence of
choice.
Free-riding Gaining the benefits of cooperation without paying the price. This
problem is central to the resolution of the prisoner’s dilemma.
Fundamentalism A belief in an ideology that is dogmatic, allows no debate and
holds to the absolute truth of the doctrine espoused.
Genocide The attempt to destroy an entire ethnic or racial group; genocide can
take place without mass murder – mass sterilisation is a form of genocide.
Global justice Theories of global justice are concerned with what obligations
nation-states have to one another and obligations citizens of different nation-states
have to one another.
Globalisation A linkage between peoples of the globe that enables them to
understand and empathise with one another.
Goodness (or goods, the good) That which is worth pursuing – ‘goods’ need not
be moral goods: a sharp knife is ‘good’ for killing people. The ‘good’ (singular)
denotes a view of the world, such as a religion. (See alsorightness)
Government The resolution of conflicts of interest. It can occur at every level in
society; it is inherent in social relationships, and needs to be contrasted with the
state.
Green movement The organised political expression of either ecologism or
environmentalism.
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