Changing Concepts of Equality: From Equality Before the Law to the Welfare State

Equality, or at least the rhetoric of equality, has been almost from the start a central issue in our society. The debate, however, has been a fluid one, because the society has shifted from the pursuit of one concept of equality to the pursuit of another. The former concept of equality I shall call equality before the law. The latter I shall call equality of social-political-economic status.