ABSTRACT
Equality has long been a source of political controversy. Aristotle remarked that ‘inequality is generally at the bottom of internal warfare in states, for it is in their striving for what is fair and equal that men become divided’. It is certainly true that both left and right agree on a number of consensus goals, particularly in the conduct of economic policy. Lack of consensus will arise at another level, namely over the problems of how to distribute the product of economic management. Disagreement over the principle is fundamental, in the sense that a decision for or against equality represents an important political choice in itself. The pursuit of equality may imply that some social welfare institutions should have a collectivist character, but the benefits provided in social welfare programmes are diverse. The link between equality and social policy is not gratuitous: it has its rationale in the redistributive role of social policy expenditure itself.
