The Difference Principle by John Rawls

I'm not the biggest fan of John Rawls' content, but you cannot have a disability blog without him.

Background (courtesy of worldhistoria.com)

“The difference principle was formulated by the renowned political philosopher, John Rawls in his 1971 scholarly publication, A Theory of Justice and reinforced in his 2001 revised text, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. The difference principle is one of the three components of Rawls' "special conception of justice" and through the difference principle, Rawls essentially argues that inequality is unjustifiable, unless the existence of inequality is operating to benefit the least advantaged in society. As he states, "Injustice, then, is simply inequalities that are not to the benefit of all".

Rawls' "special conception of justice" is encapsulated in Rawls' two principles of justice, where the first principle stipulates that each person has an equal right to "the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others" while the second principle instructs that social and economic inequalities are required to be arranged (a) according to the difference principle and (b) based on fair equality of opportunity. Hence, subject to the constraints of the other two principles, the difference principle requires that one should "arrange social and economic inequalities so that everyone benefits", thereby through its leximin formulation its operation is permitted on the condition that the fair value of political liberties are not compromised. Therefore the difference principle is essentially based on the simple notion that social and economic inequalities are justifiable "only if the difference in expectation is to the advantage of the representative man who is worse off". This is fundamentally achieved through existing social and economic institutions who are permitted to initiate schemes which encourage better prospects for the most advantaged on the basis that it will also simultaneously benefit the less fortunate. As Rawls argues, "Their [the most advantaged] better prospects act as incentives so that the economic process is more efficient, innovation proceeds at a faster pace and so on. Eventually the resulting material benefits spread throughout the system and to the least advantaged".”

My View

All people are not created equal. Every person has their own set of unique strengths and weaknesses. Thus, society needs to put those better suited, into more difficult jobs for the sake of society. This ensures maximum efficiency. This is an old management principle. Rawls is seen as a genius for creating this principle, but this principle is very old. Rawls seemingly combines various other concepts, principles, and ideologies of other authors to create the difference principle. In saying that, Rawls has created an operative principle that avoids equality at any price, and maximizing aggregate without regards to distribution.

Economically, the difference principle works because it is compatible with efficiency. An economy becomes inefficient and stagnant if everyone is paid the same rate. However, the difference principle works because it provides people with an incentive to still work hard. Incentives lead to greater efficiencies. The end result in this process, is the industry advancing at a quicker pace, with greater material, and more benefits to distribute throughout the system. Socially and morally it works because the principle cannot operate unless everyone is benefitting. Plus, Rawls makes a good argument by bringing up the veil of ignorance. Individuals are more likely to accept this principle because they (or their offspring) could end up in an unwanted position in society.    

References:

Rawls, John. 2005. A Theory of Justice. Original ed. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press.