Description
Book SynopsisEqual opportunity is a powerful idea, and one with extremely broad appeal in contemporary politics, political theory, and law. But what does it mean? On close examination, the most attractive existing conceptions of equal opportunity turn out to be impossible to achieve in practice, or even in theory. As long as families are free to raise their children differently, no two people''s opportunities will be equal; nor is it possible to disentangle someone''s abilities or talents from her background advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, given different abilities and disabilities, different people need different opportunities, confounding most ways of imagining what counts as equal.This book proposes an entirely new way of thinking about the project of equal opportunity. Instead of focusing on the chimera of literal equalization, we ought to work to broaden the range of opportunities open to people at every stage in life. We can achieve this in part by loosening the bottlenecks that const
Trade ReviewThis breakthrough book rethinks equality from the ground up, turning the spotlight on unexplored bottlenecks in the pursuit of a more just society. A fundamental contribution. * Bruce Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale University *
Fishkin's book is a must read for anybody interested in egalitarianism in general and equality of opportunity in particular. Fishkin's is an energising voice in the literature on equal opportunity * Avner De Shalit, Journal of Ecclesiastical History *
Joseph Fishkin develops the 'bottleneck' metaphor into a powerful lens for understanding the structure of opportunity in our society, and thereby recasts the 'equal opportunity' project in a way that is both novel and resonant with deeply rooted intuitions about fairness. * Cynthia Estlund, Catherine A. Rein Professor of Law, New York University School of Law *
Bottlenecks breaks a major step forward in conceptualizing how to promote meaningful opportunities for human flourishing in a world of pluralism as well as inequality. It is a breath of fresh air amidst stale debates over abstract conceptions of equaliy-but more importantly, it charts a path of conceptual and policy development that has enormous promise. * Rogers M. Smith, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania *
Joseph Fishkin offers a new and important framework for defining equal opportunity - one that gets beyond questions of 'merit.' If what looks like 'merit' is more often than not a result of advantages that can be bought, how can opportunities ever be 'equal'? Fishkin provides an original answer, suggesting new ways to open up opportunities by loosening the bottlenecks that are holding people back. * Lani Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law, Harvard Law School *
Bottlenecks reinvigorates the concept of equal opportunity by simultaneously engaging with its complications and attempting to simplify its ambitions. Fishkin's observations about human development also advance the social model of disability, in which disability is seen not as fundamentally physiological but rather as socially constructed. * Michigan Law Review *
Fishkin has interesting things to say about such concerns in a wide-ranging work. Even if unconvincing for some, it provides rich food for thought on how we can think more clearly about equal opportunities. * Thom Brooks, Political Studies Review *
Table of ContentsIntroduction ; A. How We Think About Equal Opportunity ; B. Opportunity Pluralism ; C. Implications of the Theory ; Chapter I: Equal Opportunity and Its Problems ; I.A. Conceptions of Equal Opportunity ; I.A.1. Rawlsian Equal Opportunity & Starting Gate Theories ; I.A.2. Tests, Bias, and <"Formal-Plus>" ; I.A.3. Luck Egalitarianism and Natural Talents ; I.A.4. Talent, Luck, and Dworkin ; I.B. Beyond Distributive Justice: Opportunities and Flourishing ; I.C. Four Problems for Equal Opportunity ; I.C.1. The Problem of the Family ; i. Parental Advantages ; ii. Mitigation and Compensation ; iii. Families and the Principle of Fair Life Chances ; I.C.2. The Problem of Merit ; i. An Admissions Example ; ii. Merit for Luck Egalitarians ; iii. Roemer's EOp Proposal and the Limits of Merit ; iv. Merit and Self ; I.C.3. The Problem of the Starting Gate ; i. Limits of the Ex Ante Perspective ; ii. Compounded Advantage and the Concatenation of Opportunities ; iii. Focus on the Youngest? ; iv. Them That's Got Shall Get ; I.C.4. The Problem of Individuality ; i. Schaar's Nightmare and Nozick's Dream ; ii. Toward A Different Kind of Equal Opportunity ; Chapter II: Opportunities and Human Development ; II.A. Natural Difference in Political Theory ; II.B. Intrinsic Differences, Nature, and Nurture ; II.B.1. Intrinsic Difference Claims ; II.B.2. Models of Nature and Nurture ; II.B.3. Not Even Separate ; II.C. The Trouble with <"Normal>" ; II.C.1. There Is No <"Normal>" ; II.C.2. The Flynn Effect: An Object Lesson in the Role of Environment ; II.D. An Iterative Model of Human Development ; II.D.1. Developing Capacities ; II.D.2. Interaction with Family and Society ; II.D.3. Interaction With the World of Employment ; II.E. The Trouble With <"Equal>" ; II.E.1. A Simple Equalization Problem ; II.E.2. What if We Don't All Have the Same Goal? ; II.E.3. The Endogeneity of Preferences and Goals ; II.E.4. Essential Developmental Opportunities ; Chapter III: Opportunity Pluralism ; III.A. Unitary and Pluralistic Opportunity Structures ; III.A.1 Individuality and Pluralism ; III.A.2 Positional Goods and Competitive Roles ; III.A.3. The Anti-Bottleneck Principle ; III.A.4. Who Controls The Opportunity Structure? ; III.B. The Dynamics of Bottlenecks ; III.B.1. Types of Bottlenecks ; III.B.2. Legitimate Versus Arbitrary Bottlenecks ; III.B.3. Severity of Bottlenecks ; III.B.4. How Many People Are Affected By This Bottleneck? ; III.B.5. What To Do About Bottlenecks ; III.B.6. Bottlenecks and the Content of Jobs ; III.B.7. Situating Bottlenecks Within the Opportunity Structure as a Whole ; III.B.8. Bottlenecks, Efficiency, and Human Capital ; III.B.9. Potential Benefits of Bottlenecks ; III.C. Flourishing, Perfectionism, and Priority ; III.C.1. Equal Opportunity Without a Common Scale ; III.C.2. Thin Perfectionism and Autonomy ; Chapter IV: Applications ; IV.A. Class as Bottleneck ; IV.A.1. Fear of Downward Mobility: A Parable About How Inequality Matters ; IV.A.2. College as Bottleneck ; IV.A.3. Segregation and Integration: A Story of Networks and Norms ; IV.B. Freedom and Flexibility in the World of Work ; IV.B.1. Flexibility, Job Lock, and Entrepreneurialism ; IV.B.2. Workplace Flexibility and Gender Bottlenecks ; IV.C. Bottlenecks and Antidiscrimination Law ; IV.C.1 Some Cutting-Edge Statutes and Their Implications ; IV.C.2. Whom Should Antidiscrimination Law Protect? ; IV.C.3. An Example: Appearance Discrimination ; IV.C.4. Bottlenecks, Groups, and Individuals ; IV.C.5. How Should Antidiscrimination Law Protect? ; Conclusion ; Acknowledgments ; Index
