As in the immediate pre-Gorbachev period (see chapter 1), Soviet discussions of "social justice" in the late 1980s focused largely on the issue of inequalities in economic status--essentially the issue of distributive justice. These discussions were enriched by the release of more than the normal volume of data on the magnitude of certain types of economic inequalities (especially on the distribution of savings accounts) and by enhanced opportunities for the discussants to confront the sensitive issue of "privileges" for favored social groups. Although a systematic review of available data on income and wealth inequalities is not part of our objective here, such material will be invoked below when it serves to clarify the positions adopted by the principal antagonists in Soviet controversies on distributive justice. Recent years have witnessed a direct confrontation between advocates of reduced inequalities in economic status and those who see the excessive "leveling" of Soviet incomes as a principal source of the country's economic problems. We shall consider the arguments of both groups.