Ronald Dworkin: Equality of Resources

Dworkin, Equality YouTube Video

In Dworkin’s equality of resources, we are aiming for ambition sensitive or how hard an individual tries/what their goals are, and endowment insensitive, our natural ad innate talents and our social position in society.  If we can establish a proper distribution channel of these resources, we will have an envy-free society. In other words, no one will envy another’s total package (money, talent, education, etc.).

However, this is simply not possible. A big concept in disability theory, is the concept of natural disadvantage. Natural disadvantage can be understood in a number of ways:

1) Physical handicaps- being physically disable

2) Mental handicaps- being mentally disabled

3) Skill handicaps- having a set of skills that are not marketable

It is generally thought that naturally disadvantaged people have to expend more resources than non-disadvantaged people just to establish a basis for a “normal life”.  As Dworkin says, “We want to develop a scheme of redistribution, so far as we are able, that will neutralize-the effects of differential talents.” (Dworkin 313)  Dworkin proposes taking the total holdings of society and redistributing them to those with the natural disadvantages. For example if Andre and Disadvantaged Brandon each have 100 holdings initially, after the redistribution, Disadvantaged Brandon will now have 120 whereas Andre will still have 100.  In my opinion, this is a flawed approach. It does not account for people with extreme natural disadvantages. Some disadvantages are too costly to allow anyone to live the life they want to live. Additionally, there are some disadvantages so extreme, that no amount of redistribution will help the person get to a normal level of ability to live a valuable life.

I understand that complete equality is impossible, or that complete equality isn't even necessarily a good thing, but the insurance market Dworkin proposes is truly the second-best option. In an insurance market each person is allowed not only to bid for bundles of goods in the auction, but also to buy insurance against negative outcomes.  For example, if Matt likes to go sky diving and does not care about injury, he may not buy that much insurance to protect against it. Rather, he spends his money on sky diving. In contrast, if Ryan is highly risk averse, he may spend much more money on insurance of all kinds, and spend most of his days at home working in a safe place.  “Insurance, so far as it is available, provides a link between brute and option luck.” (Dworkin 293) This market provides minor protection and assures as much as possible that people will have an equal start. However, we must remember, this is only a theory, it is much different putting this theory into practice.

References:

Ronald Dworkin, “What is Equality? II. Equality of Resources” Philosophy and Public Affairs 20 (1981): 283-345