Here, I give you the summarised version of everything that I taught you in this topic in PSIR Optional Foundation classes. If you are not able to recall the scholar or concept, then go back to class notes and handouts. UPSC has asked 4 ten-mark questions, 5 fifteen-mark questions, and no twenty-mark questions from this topic in last 12 years.
1. Classical roots of the equality idea
- Aristotle ( Politics ): separates natural from conventional inequality.
- John Locke ( Two Treatises ): natural rights rest on the inherent equality of persons.
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau ( Social Contract ): the general will presumes civic equality.
- Alexis de Tocqueville: equality deepens as modernity’s master trend; it is a “modern idea.”
2. Liberal → Socialist → Positive-liberal line-up
| Conception | Devices | Critique |
| Classical / Negative Liberalism | Equality before law & equality of opportunity | Marxists call this formal / procedural. |
| Socialist / Marxist | Socio-economic leveling; class abolition | Dismiss liberal equality as hollow without material parity. |
| Positive Liberals / Welfare Liberals | Affirmative action, positive discrimination, social rights | Aim to build the level playing field socialists demand. |
3 Liberal-egalitarian debate inside Rawls–Dworkin–Nozick triangle
| Thinker | Key Principle(s) | Equality payoff |
| John Rawls | Opportunity Principle + Difference Principle – inequalities fine only if they benefit the least advantaged | Welfare-egalitarian, “justice as fairness” |
| Ronald Dworkin | Resource / luck egalitarianism – auction equal resources; offset brute luck; leave ambition to individuals | Distinguishes choice vs circumstance |
| Robert Nozick | Entitlement theory: historical holdings trump patterns; no perpetual compensation for past wrongs | Warns against coercive redistribution |
| Dworkin’s reply | People not responsible for the circumstances shaping their choices; insurance-market thought-experiment offsets brute luck |
4. Beyond welfare & resources: Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach
- Shifts metric from means to ends : capabilities (range of doings) > mere goods.
- Equality = equalizing capacities; development = freedom expansion, not GDP alone.
- Captures external (social) & internal (health, emotion) deprivations; poverty = capability deficit.
5. Michael Walzer’s Complex Equality ( Spheres of Justice , 1983)
- Plural goods, plural rules: each sphere (money, office, education…) has its own distributive logic.
- Blocked exchanges stop dominance spill-overs (wealth → power, status → school seats).
- Guards against tyranny and respects cultural meaning of goods.
- Critiques: cumulative hierarchies (e.g., caste), feasibility of blocking, lingering intra-sphere gaps.
- Nonetheless prized by multiculturalists and communitarians for context-sensitive justice.
6. Liberty ↔ Equality — four angles
| Libertarian View | Modern-liberal / Social-democratic View | |
| Definition | Liberty = absence of restraint ( Smith, Spencer, Nozick ); equality = literal sameness → seen as opposed | Liberty & equality mutually reinforce; each needs limits ( J.S. Mill, T.H. Green, Amartya Sen ) |
| Domain | Political liberty prized; socio-economic equality feared | Socio-economic leveling sometimes requires curbs on unfettered market freedom |
| Purpose | Promote individual choice; laissez-faire capitalism | Promote general welfare; social democracy blends both (Scandinavian model) |
| Critiques | Tocqueville, Lord Acton: equality frenzy breeds conformity & stifles freedom | Laski, Macpherson, Tawney: without baseline equality, the weak are unfree |
Bottom line: reasonable equality is pre-condition for meaningful liberty; pure liberty for the privileged can create the “un-freedom” of the vulnerable.
7. What is Affirmative Action?
- Targeted, state-backed preference to dismantle structural disadvantage—not every preferential rule qualifies.
- Aims at equal citizenship participation by reallocating scarce jobs, seats, credit, skills.
Contrast:
| Purpose | Examples | |
| General preferential policy | Political accommodation, ethnic dominance, minority security | Sinhala-only drive (Sri Lanka), Bumiputera policy (Malaysia) |
| Affirmative action proper | Remedy historic injustice, widen opportunity pools | SC/ST/OBC reservations, US minority recruitment plans |
8. Weak ↔ Strong Forms of Affirmative Action
- Soft tools: outreach, training, skill grants—low political heat.
- Hard tools: quotas / reservations—guarantee entry; highest controversy but fastest impact.
9. Normative Rationale behind Affirmative Action
| Principle | Content | Voices |
| Non-discrimination | End morally arbitrary barriers (race, caste, sex) | 14th-Amendment jurists, Article 15(4) framers |
| Equal opportunity | Build level playing field beyond formal rights | Lyndon B. Johnson: “You don’t take a person who’s been hobbled… and then say ‘you are free.’” |
| Group-disadvantage | Cumulative deprivation demands group remedy (Dalits, STs) | B.R. Ambedkar in CA debates |
10. Indian Design – Three Tracks of Affirmative Action
- Numerical reservations – Lok Sabha, assemblies; 15%/7.5% job & education quotas for SC/ST, later OBC (Mandal, 1990).
- Targeted benefits – scholarships, grants, health schemes.
- Protective laws – SC/ST (PoA) Act; anti-atrocity, bonded-labour bans.
Compensatory justice is the moral lodestar; jurisprudence has shifted from “non-discrimination” to equal outcomes test (Creamy-layer debate shows calibration).
11. Critique Catalogue of Affirmative Action
| Objection | Typical Author or Trope |
| Inter-generational blame | “Why should today’s youth pay?” |
| Merit dilution / efficiency loss | Milton Friedman, some industry lobbies |
| Fair-opportunity violated | Libertarian Robert Nozick line |
| Stigma / paternalism | “Quota hires seen as token” |
| Victim mentality & dependency | Conservative sociology |
| Cumulative social fracture | Polarisation, “creamy layer” hogging benefits |
| Who qualifies? | Endless boundary fights—SC vs OBC, EWS etc. |
| Outcome vs opportunity | US court preference for the latter; India the former |
Counter-Arguments against the critiques
- Present, not past, injustice—discrimination still active (landlessness, literacy gaps).
- Merit is social-coded—exam scores mirror privilege; efficiency loss unproven.
- Rights, not favours—constitutional promise of inclusion.
- Confidence dividend—mobilisation of Dalits proves empowerment effect outweighs stigma.
- Inclusive polity—blocked opportunities breed unrest; calibrated reservations foster loyalty.
- Outcome focus justified in stratified orders—when exclusion crosses economy, society and politics, equality of result is fair yard-stick.
13. Reverse Discrimination Debate
- Critics: burdens innocents, violates fair equality, fuels resentment.
- Proponents: necessary “counter-discrimination”; without parity, formal liberty is hollow (echo Rawls & Sen on basic structure & capabilities).
- Core tension: procedural justice vs substantive equity.
14. Liberty–Equality Revisited (Tie-in)
- Tocqueville / Acton: equality can coerce; liberty guards individuality.
- Laski, Macpherson, Tawney: without material floor, liberty is privilege, not right.
- economic equality conditions democratic liberty; affirmative action is one instrument.
Hints for writing the practice questions today
| Theme Heading | use these as frameworks when you attempt practice questions |
| Levelling the Finish Line — Equality of Outcome | Core idea ⟶ shift concern from fair starts to where citizens actually land. Rawls’s Difference Principle supplies the fullest moral defence: inequalities must raise the floor for the least-advantaged → progressive tax, public services, civic-dignity minimum. Libertarian counter (Nozick, Friedman): end-state levelling invades choice, discourages enterprise. Practical synthesis in modern democracies: mild outcome equalisation + open competition, maintaining a protective floor while leaving scope for talent and risk. |
| Liberty as the Gateway to Equality | Equality claims presuppose free moral agency (UDHR, Locke). Rawls: basic liberties are equal and lexically first; liberty is already equality-laden. Berlin’s warning: curbing domineering freedoms secures others’ liberty. Deep material gaps hollow formal freedoms; Amartya Sen links capability expansion to both ideals. Mutuality: liberty enables equality’s assertion; equality extends liberty’s reach—conflict arises only when each is reduced to caricature (laissez-faire vs forced uniformity). |
| Economic Floor for Democratic Liberty | Political equality (one person–one vote) and personal liberty operate on terrain shaped by wealth. Large income gaps erode the fair value of liberties (Rawls) and shrink real choice (Sen). T. H. Marshall: social rights (welfare, education) are the scaffolding for civil & political rights. Indian framers (Ambedkar) baked socio-economic democracy into Directive Principles. Conclusion: without a reasonable economic floor, liberty becomes a privilege and citizenship stratifies; moderate economic equality lets both ideals reinforce each other. |
Scholar Index –
Adam Smith · Alexis de Tocqueville · Amartya Sen · Aristotle · B.R. Ambedkar · Brian Barry · C.B. Macpherson · David Miller · H.J. Laski · Herbert Spencer · Isaiah Berlin · J.S. Mill · Jean-Jacques Rousseau · John Locke · John Rawls · Karl Marx · Karl Popper · Lord Acton · Lyndon B. Johnson · Michael Walzer · Milton Friedman · R.H. Tawney · Robert Nozick · Ronald Dworkin · T.H. Green · T.H. Marshall
Practice Questions (attempt before 4 p.m.)
- Comment on equality of outcome as a political idea. (UPSC 2021 – 10 marks)
- How is liberty a pre-condition for equality? Explicate the relationship between equality and liberty. (UPSC 2014 – 15 marks)
- “The nature of relationship between equality of democratic citizenship and liberty of citizens is influenced by economic equality.” Comment. (UPSC 2024 – 15 marks)
📌 Model answers drop this evening on the Telegram channel: https://t.me/psirbyamitpratap – set an alert.
See you tomorrow with Day 4…Keep writing!!
Amit Pratap Singh & team
| Click Here to Download the PDF |
