Equality: From Theory to Action

How can egalitarian ideals be put into action? This ground breaking book sets out a new interdisciplinary model for equality studies. Integrating normative questions about the ideal of equality with empirical issues about the nature of inequality, it applies a new framework to a wide range of contemporary inequalities. Proposing far reaching changes in the economy, politics, law, education and research practices, it sets out innovative political strategies for achieving those aims. It is an invaluable resource for both academics and activists.

Table of Contents:
Preface - PART I: THE NEW EQUALITY AGENDA - New Challenges to an Unequal World - Dimensions of Equality: A Framework for Theory and Action - The Centrality of Equality: Equality and Other Values - Contexts of Egalitarian Change: Social Systems and Social Groups - PART II: PUTTING EQUALITY INTO PRACTICE - Towards Economic Equality - The Challenge of Participatory Democracy - Equality, the Legal System and Employment Law - Equality and Education - Emancipatory Research as a Tool of Change - PART III: STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE - Class, Gender and the Equality Movement - Ideology and Resistance - Strategic Issues for the Equality Movement - Notes - Bibliography

About the Author :
John Baker is a senior lecturer in Politics at University College Dublin and is one of the founding members of the Equality Studies Centre. He is the author of Arguing for Equality (1987). His main areas of research are theoretical issues of equality and democracy. Kathleen Lynch is Professor of Equality Studies and was one of the founding members of the Equality Studies Centre. She is the author of The Hidden Curriculum (1989) and Equality in Education (1999) and co-author of Schools and Society in Ireland (1993), Equality and Power in Schools: Redistribution, Recognition and Representation (2002) and Inside Classrooms: The Teaching and Learning of Mathematics in Social Context (2002). Her main areas of research are equality in education, emancipatory research, the role of the university in social change and theoretical issues in equality studies. Sara Cantillon is a senior lecturer in Equality Studies at University College Dublin and a full-time member of the Equality Studies Centre. She is the co-editor of Rich and Poor: Perspectives on Tackling Inequality in Ireland (2001). Her main areas of research are gender and poverty, intra-household resource allocation and the economics of inequality. Judy Walsh is a lecturer in Equality Studies at University College Dublin and a full-time member of the Equality Studies Centre. She is the co-author of a number of NGO reports in the field of equality and human rights. Her main areas of research are human rights and gender, poverty and law. The authors have also been active in a wide range of equality-related organizations and campaigns.

Review :
"This book is testament to the unique role that the Equality Studies Centre at University College Dublin and these four authors have had in reinvigorating egalitarianism. Deeply thoughtful, coherent and above all accessible arguments reflect the authors' breadth of knowledge of international literature and their understanding of the realpolitic of social reform. The equality framework with its five dimensions integrates the rational and the emotional into a powerful eminently usable scaffold for politicians, policy-makers, academics and activists. This book confidently crosses the chasm between theory and action. It is a major achievement which deserves to be on the reading list of every politician, academic and activist concerned about social inequity and justice."--Professor Madeleine Arnot, Chair of Sociology of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge "This is a truly extraordinary book, combining sophisticated philosophical discussion of the fundamental moral issues linked to equality with solid sociological analysis of existing institutions and how they work to generate inequality, and provocative political analysis of strategies to transform those institutions. Equality: From Theory to Action has insightful and original things to say on each of these themes. It provides a powerful framework for a new egalitarianism for the 21st century."--Erik Olin Wright, Vilas Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin Madison "The main merit and purpose of this book is the integrated and systematic treatment of equality it provides. The background of the authors allows them to write with great authority on both theoretical and policy issues concerningequality, approaching them all from a single systematic vision of the nature and importance of equality. The book is astonishing in its scope."--Jonathan Wolff Professor and Head of Department of Philosophy, University College London