Equal Concern and Respect

Political Ideas – Equality

In this course, Professor Tom Parr (University of Warwick) explores the concept of equality in political philosophy. In the first module, we begin with an introduction to the concept of political equality, focusing in particular on the two key principles of equal concern and equal respect. Then, in the second module, we explore three conceptions of equality of opportunity, formal, fair, and socialist equality of opportunity. In the third module, we explore the relationship between ideas of political equality and redistributive taxation, focusing in particular on the objections raised by the conservative political philosopher Robert Nozick (1938-2002) against redistributive taxation. In the fourth module we explore equality of opportunity as it applies to welfare, before turning in the fifth module to consider equality of opportunity as it applies to family life. In the sixth and final module, we take our discussion of political equality beyond the demands of equality of opportunity. This course covers thinkers and ideas on both the Core Political Ideas – Liberalism (John Rawls) and Core Political Ideas – Conservatism (Robert Nozick) parts of the AQA and Edexcel A Level Politics specifications.

Equal Concern and Respect

In this module, Professor Tom Parr introduces us to the concept of political equality, focusing in particular on two key principles of political equality: (i) equal concern: governments should treat every citizen as equally valuable; (ii) equal respect: governments should respect the rights of individuals to self-determine; (iii) possible applications of these principles, e.g. in situations of economic inequality.