Three Perspectives Of Equality

Although three perspectives of equality exist, each perspective provides a unique definition of the true meaning of equality in society. The first perspective, equality under the law, is essentially a fundamental concept in the Untied States. This perspective stresses the importance of the law in this country treating every individual equally. While there is the argument that the law does treat people like criminals and children differently, this argument is invalid in relation this theory due to the belief that such factors involve one’s motivation or capability of committing a crime (Cochran, 2015). Generally, however, the law is not allowed to discriminate against individual based solely on irrelevant factors that play no role in the likelihood of displaying certain behaviors, such as race or gender. For example, the punishment for a white …show more content…
This perspective argues that the government should be responsible for ensuring that all citizens have the same material belongings that are considered necessary in society (Cochran, 2015). This perspective is where entitlements come into play. While equality of opportunity only requires that everyone has access to equal opportunities to be successful and earn things in life, this perspective argues that certain necessary aspects of live need be given to every citizen. Additionally, equality of material well-bring builds off of the idea of equality of opportunity by insisting that if equality of opportunity existed, then certain groups would hold a proportional percentage of positions in various aspects of society (Cochran, 2015). For example, if a certain population made up 10% of the population, then for any respective subgroup of society, such as being a CEO should be made up of 10% of that aforementioned population. While all three of these perspectives seek to provide equality for all, their ideas of equality are incredibly