Skip navigation
SuUB logo
DSpace logo

  • Home
  • Institutions
    • University of Bremen
    • City University of Applied Sciences
    • Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences
  • Sign on to:
    • My Media
    • Receive email
      updates
    • Edit Account details

Citation link: https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/517

Publisher DOI: https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.42.2017.3.62-78
Criticizing Inequality How Ideals of Equality Do - and Do Not - Contribute to the De-Legitimation of Inequality in Contemporary Germany.pdf
OpenAccess
 
by 3.0 de

Criticizing Inequality? How Ideals of Equality Do – and Do Not – Contribute to the De-Legitimation of Inequality in Contemporary Germany


File Description SizeFormat
Criticizing Inequality How Ideals of Equality Do - and Do Not - Contribute to the De-Legitimation of Inequality in Contemporary Germany.pdf745.19 kBAdobe PDFView/Open
Other Titles: Kritik der Ungleichheit? Gleichheitsideale und ihr Beitrag zur Delegitimation sozialer Ungleichheit in Deutschland
Authors: Sachweh, Patrick  
Abstract: 
»Kritik der Ungleichheit? Gleichheitsideale und ihr Beitrag zur Delegitimation sozialer Ungleichheit in Deutschland«. Social inequality in modern societies requires legitimation. Yet, while ideals of equality are ascribed a central role in philosophical and public debates about inequality and social justice, less is known about how ordinary people draw on principles of equality in criticizing and justifying social inequalities in the current era of a “crisis of equality.”
From the perspective of the sociology of critique, this article asks how different social classes refer to beliefs about equality of outcomes and opportunity when criticizing and justifying inequality in contemporary Germany. Based on qualitative interviews with respondents from upper and lower social classes, I show that the ideal of equality is inherently ambivalent and contested: On the one hand, respondents across classes reject the idea of equalizing outcomes but criticize unequal opportunities. However, only upper-class respondents demand greater state intervention to bring about equality of opportunity, indicating that this ideal does not serve as a normative point of reference for the lower classes. At the same time, due to its individualist undertones, the ideal of equality of opportunity also contains a legitimizing potential. Paradoxically, then, ideals of equality appear to contribute little to the de-legitimation of inequality in contemporary Germany.
Keywords: Equality; Equality of opportunity; Inequality; Sociology of critique; Qualitative interviewing
Issue Date: 2017
Journal/Edited collection: Historical Social Research 
Start page: 62
End page: 78
Note: 3
Band: 42
Type: Artikel/Aufsatz
ISSN: 0172-6404
DOI: 10.26092/elib/517
URN: urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-elib47208
Institution: andere Institution 
Appears in Collections:Forschungsdokumente

  

Page view(s)

68
checked on Jul 5, 2022

Download(s)

24
checked on Jul 5, 2022

Google ScholarTM

Check


This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons

Legal notice -Feedback -Data privacy
Media - Extension maintained and optimized by Logo 4SCIENCE