Free and Equal: What Would a Fair Society Look Like?

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While the impact of John Rawls’ work on (English-language) political philosophy in the post-war era can hardly be overstated, the same cannot be said of the sphere of public policy. Why is it so has probably a lot to do with both the complexity and rather theoretical nature of the argument, which can be quite puzzling - I remember one conversation with a prominent economist and deputy governor of a central bank in my home country about how “he is fine with the more philosophical approaches to social policy, like from Amartya Sen, but always gets lost around Rawls”. I don’t blame him.

Chandler highlights ideas easily missed or misunderstood in Rawls that are particularly salient today, like his emphasis on intergenerational justice This is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of the left, and indeed the future of liberal democracy -- Jon Cruddas MP This is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of the left, and indeed the future of liberal democracy Jon Cruddas MP This is a book brimming with hope and possibility – a galvanising alternative to the cynicism that pervades our politics.This is the revolutionary thought experiment proposed by the twentieth century’s greatest political philosopher, John Rawls. This is superb work, in both explaining Rawls for general readers and in applying Rawlsian principles to contemporary problems of social and political justice ... It is impressive - clear, concise, thorough, and accessible -- Professor Samuel Freeman, author of Rawls and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Rawls So many of the answers to our dilemmas about democracy and inequality can be found in the philosophy of John Rawls. Daniel Chandler brings those answers to life with contemporary evidence and solutions. Read Free and Equal and feel hopeful about the future -- Minouche Shafik In this very timely and refreshing book, Daniel Chandler argues that rather than abandon liberalism we must reimagine it. Free and Equal asks big questions about how human society should be organised, and offers answers all of us should take seriously, whatever our politics -- Jesse Norman MP There is of course a case for UBI (emphasised as a tool to give more power to the workers not to be afraid to quit their jobs or to retrain), but also a variation of universal inheritance (like baby bonds). The most convincing case is, however, for compulsory representations of workers on boards of companies (like is done in more tripartite systems and coordinated markets, in Germany or Austria, with a third of board seats in smaller companies and a half in bigger ones) as well as workers’ cooperatives like the Mondragon Corporation in Spain - and Chandler proposes a few policies that would encourage this shared ownership model, through specialised banks creating financing for employee buyouts. The argumentation in this part was for me the most useful part of the book, providing a imaginative justification for policies achieving equity through relatively novel means.

As economist and philosopher Daniel Chandler argues in this hugely ambitious and exhilarating intervention, it is by rediscovering Rawls that we can find a way out of the escalating crises that are devastating our world today. Genuinely original... An inspiring catalogue of fresh ideas each with a clear and jargon-free philosophical underpinning drawn from Rawls' work John Mitchinson, Byline Times The writing of utopias has fallen out of fashion, whether because we are jaded, pessimistic about the chances of realising even a fraction of proposals that might be considered utopian, or for some other reason. Free and Equal is a breath of fresh air, therefore. It is unabashedly utopian in its proposals for social, economic, political and educational change. It is nonetheless perfectly realistic in the sense that few or none of Daniel Chandler’s proposals for a better world would be impossible to bring about if we had the gumption to try to do so. To be fair, in some cases Chandler’s recommendations flow naturally from Rawls’ work in ways that seem prescient given our current challenges. For example, Chandler’s call for a written constitution makes sense as a way to recognise the priority Rawls gives to basic liberties, and to make the protection of individual rights less precarious, given recent efforts to scrap the Human Rights Act. His discussion of Rawlsian ‘public reason’ – to simplify, the notion that our democratic arguments should be couched in terms of political values everyone can accept rather than controversial moral or religious worldviews – has obvious relevance to ongoing ‘culture war’ issues.

In Free and Equal: What Would a Fair Society Look Like? Daniel Chandler considers how the work of twentieth-century philosopher John Rawls could inform policymaking to build a fairer society with reduced inequality and a more democratic political system. The book expounds Rawls’ theory in admirably clear prose but begs the question whether the work of other thinkers might be more effective in mobilising citizens and policymakers to effect meaningful change, writes Aveek Bhattacharya. Imagine: you are designing a society, but you don’t know who you’ll be within it – rich or poor, man or woman, gay or straight. What would you want that society to look like?

Despite the enormous problems we face and widespread dissatisfaction with the status quo, it's surprisingly hard to find a coherent vision of what a better, fairer society would look like. An important point I feel is missing from the book is the fact that these ideas clash with the general foundations of logic used in current political discourse. Although Chandler does a good job of justifying the advantages to each of the specific policies that he advocates, the foundation of Rawls' philosophy goes against the grain of mainstream political thought, which would be a fundamental problem for any party trying to campaign to introduce these ideas. The same issue applies to new ways of thinking about economics, such as modern monetary theory, and is, I expect, a reason that many people get aggravated by the policies of mainstream political parties - there is a misalignment of the foundational assumptions on how society should function.

Clear, brave, compelling. This book shows how to put values at the heart of politics in a rigorous way, and is an important contribution to the future of progressive politics -- David Miliband That wishlist includes a universal basic income sufficient to eliminate poverty (costing about 25% of GDP) awarded to everyone irrespective of wealth, any other income, or whether they’re employed; tertiary education funded by a mix of free tuition and income-contingent loans, and a transfer of wealth to every citizen when they reach adulthood (a reform historically endorsed by the two Thomases, Paine and Piketty, and similar to Gordon Brown’s child trust fund). Free and Equal provides that vision. In this hugely ambitious and exhilarating debut, philosopher and economist Daniel Chandler argues that the ideas we need are hiding in plain sight, in the work of the twentieth century's greatest political philosopher, John Rawls. Although they have revolutionised philosophy, his ideas have had little impact on politics - until now. Taking Rawls's humane and egalitarian liberalism as his starting point, Chandler builds a careful and ultimately irresistible case for a progressive agenda that would fundamentally reshape our political and economic institutions.

Ongoing Covid restrictions, reduced air and freight capacity, high volumes and winter weather conditions are all impacting transportation and local delivery across the globe. Free and Equal” is a book of two halves. The first half is an exposition of Rawls’ central principles. It lays out Rawls’ conception of a fair society, one in which basic freedoms of humans are protected, genuinely fair equality of opportunity for all is secured, and, the economic structure prioritizes the needs of the most disadvantaged. Chandler highlights ideas which could be misunderstood in Rawls, like his recognition that economic inequalities are about power and status as well as wealth and income. These explanations help the reader to comprehend the ideas of Rawls, by being explained by another person. The other half, or rather two-thirds, of the book, is more interesting and likely more impactful, as it presents a take on the application of these theoretical principles on specific (well, to a limited extent) policy questions and areas. Some are quite common - democratic reforms like doing elections through proportional representation, written constitution, limiting the amount of campaign spending or supporting public broadcasting and media. In the sphere of creating equality of opportunity, Chandler argues for greater support of pre-primary education (expanding instruments like the pupil’s premium in the UK), but also the abolishing of private schools and a form of student fees for universities (so that those who do not attend do not subsidise benefits for the mode advantaged in the society). What is interesting is how radically unradical these ideas sometimes feel - surely for instance the abolishment of private schools in the UK is a dramatic change, but it is well argued on the basis of the difference principle and one can see the coherence of its overall approach. Funder reveals how O’Shaughnessy Blair self-effacingly supported Orwell intellectually, emotionally, medically and financially ... why didn’t Orwell do the same for his wife in her equally serious time of need?’ Philosopher John Rawls, whose ideas form the basis of Chandler’s book, in 1987. Photograph: Frederic Reglain/Gamma-Rapho/Getty ImagesA beautifully written and compelling argument that Rawlsian political philosophy can heal our broken societies and make us, indeed, free and equal -- Professor Sir Angus Deaton, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and author of Deaths of Despair