See this biblio http://www.ucd.ie/~esc/eqism2.htm
And, this new book by Barry may be of interest. Michael Pugliese
CULTURE AND EQUALITY
An Egalitarian Critique of Multiculturalism
BRIAN BARRY
All major Western countries contain groups that differ from the mainstream and from each other in religious beliefs, customary practices, or cultural ideas.
How should public policy respond to this diversity? Brian Barry challenges the currently orthodox answer and develops a powerful restatement of an egalitarian liberalism for the twenty-first century.
Under the tenets of liberalism, it was assumed that cultural diversity could best be accommodated by allowing minority groups to associate in pursuit of their distinctive ends within the limits imposed by a common framework of laws. This policy has been challenged in recent decades by an influential school of
political theorists--including William Galston, Will Kymlicka, Bhikhu Parekh,
Charles Taylor, and Iris Marion Young--who claim that the "difference-blind" conception of liberal equality fails to deliver either liberty or equal treatment. In its place, they propose that the state should recognize cultural identities by exempting groups from certain laws, publicly affirming the value of the various cultures, and by providing them with special privileges or subsidies.
In Culture and Equality, Barry offers an incisive criticism of these arguments and suggests that they tend to misdiagnose the problems of minority groups. He insists on the primacy of equal rights, a standard of fairness that can be shared by all, and acceptance of the fact that the diversity of people's beliefs means that they will often bear disparate costs as a consequence of the very existence of a general and equally applicable law.
Brian Barry is Arnold A. Saltzman Professor of Philosophy and Political Science, Columbia University and winner of the 2001 Johan Skytte Prize.
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Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 16:53:42 +0100 (BST) From: =?iso-8859- 1?q?Ismail=20Lagardien?= <ilagardien at yahoo.com> Subject: Socialists and Equality II
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Hi everyone I feel bad about my post on Equality and Socialists; perhaps I should explain. I am doing a literature review chapter as part of my first year of the PhD. I am looking, specifically, at the literature on equality/inequality. I think I may have taken the quote out of context.
While reading the book, Equality by Alex Callinicos (Polity 2000), I came across this text in the main body: “… the fact that New Labour’s ethical commitments are apparently identical with those of more traditional socialists offers and opportunity to appriase the Third Way in terms that both its adherents and its Left-wing critics would acknowledge as valid” (p 38). A Footnote/Endnote, actualy, directs one to the following on page 139:
“Brian Barry argues against identifying socialism with equality: ‘If taken as fundamental equality – the equal claim to considerations of all human beings - it does not distinguish socialism from liberalism or indeed from most (non- racist) forms of modern conservatism. If taken as material equality, it is also inaccurate since very few socialists have ever been or are now in favour of complete material equality.’ (Does Society Exist? London 1989). But since Barry goes on to suggest that ‘relative equality’ is ‘a theorem derivable from an adequate account of social justice’ his definition of socialism as ‘social justice plus collectivism’ doesn’t seemto differ significantly from two of the values listed by Carling – equality and community.”
Apologies for the confusion, or misrepresentation and thanks for your comments.
Cheers
Ismail