Luck in the Just Society -Sociology of Individual’s Choices and a Justification for Egalitarian Social Policies-

Yıl 2023, Cilt: 23 Sayı: 3, 751 - 770, 27.09.2023

M. Onur Arun

https://doi.org/10.18037/ausbd.1307244

Öz

To what extent can individuals be kept responsible for the disadvantages they experience? This is undoubtedly one of the most fundamental questions that have led to a historical cleavage between egalitarian perspectives that underline roles of structural inequalities leading to disadvantages and anti-egalitarian/libertarian perspectives that tend to keep individuals themselves responsible for their own living conditions. Taking a mediating position between these perspectives, a relatively new normative framework, viz. luck egalitarianism, has recently provided an analytical answer to this question. Building upon an authentic conceptual framework in which two distinct forms of luck are defined, it claims that individuals cannot be kept responsible for their disadvantaged conditions so long as these conditions have appeared as consequences of factors that are beyond their own control, such as luck, which inescapably brings forth a normative idea that individuals should take responsibility of disadvantages that are consequences of their own choices/decisions. This paper discusses that evaluative aspects of individuals’ choices/decisions within the given configuration of luck egalitarianism’s analytical framework are excessively ambiguous, which can easily lead it to turn into a perspective morally justifying quite a number of disadvantages. Drawing on various hypothetical cases and empirical findings, it suggests that luck egalitarianism should recognize sociological formation of individuals’ choices/decisions in modern stratified societies to overcome such jeopardy. Following this, it addresses two positive implications of such recognition as (1) saving luck egalitarianism from being a means of right-wing exclusionary political positions and (2) opening up a space to incorporate egalitarian social policies.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Distributive Justice, Luck, Choice, Political Sociology, Social Policy

Adil Toplumda Şans -Birey Seçimlerinin Sosyolojisi ve Eşitlikçi Sosyal Politikalar İçin Bir Temellendirme-

Öz

Dezavantajlı bireyler deneyimledikleri dezavantajlardan ne derece sorumlu tutulabilir? Kuşkusuz bu soru, yapısal eşitsizliklerin dezavantajın oluşumunda oynadığı rollere vurgu yapan eşitlikçi bakış açıları ile bireyleri kendi yaşam koşullarından sorumlu tutan eşitlikçi olmayan/liberteryen bakış açıları arasındaki tarihsel kırılmaya yol açan en temel sorulardan biridir. Bu iki bakış açısı arasında uzlaştırıcı bir pozisyon olarak görece yeni ortaya çıkmış olan şans eşitlikçiliği yaklaşımı ise bu soruya analitik bir cevap sunmaktadır. İki farklı şans tanımının yer aldığı özgün bir kavramsal çerçeve üzerine kurulu olan şans eşitlikçiliği, bireylerin kendi kontrolleri dışında gelişen şans gibi etmenlerin sonucunda ortaya çıkan dezavantajlardan sorumlu tutulamayacağını belirtmektedir. Bu bakış açısı, kaçınılmaz olarak, bireylerin kendi seçimlerinin/kararlarının sonucu olarak ortaya çıkan dezavantajların sorumluluğunu üstlenmeleri gerektiği yönündeki normatif fikri de beraberinde getirmektedir. Bu çalışma, şans eşitlikçiliği yaklaşımının analitik çerçevesinin verili yapısı içinde, birey seçimlerine/kararlarına ilişkin değerlendirme unsurlarının oldukça muğlak olduğunu ve bunun da şans eşitlikçiliğinin birçok dezavantajı meşrulaştıran bir bakış açısına dönüşmesine sebep olabileceğini tartışmaktadır. Çeşitli hipotetik örnekler ve kimi görgül verilere dayanarak, şans eşitlikçiliğinin söz konusu riski, katmanlaşmış çağdaş toplumlarda birey seçimlerinin/kararlarının sosyolojik olarak kurulduğunu kabul ederek aşabileceğini işaret etmektedir. Bunu takiben, böylesi bir kabulün şans eşitlikçiliğinin (1) dışlayıcı sağ siyasal pozisyonlarca araçsallaştırılmasına engel olmak ve (2) eşitlikçi sosyal politikalarla işbirliği kurmasına olanak sağlayan bir alan açması gibi iki olumlu sonucu beraberinde getireceği ifade edilmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Dağıtıcı Adalet, Şans, Seçim, Siyaset Sosyolojisi, Sosyal Politika

Kaynakça

• Alper, Y. (2000). 4447 sayılı kanun ve sosyal güvenlik sisteminin finansman yapısına etkileri. In Prof. Dr. Nusret Ekin’e armağan (pp. 129-158). Istanbul: Türk Ağır Sanayi ve Hizmet Sektörü Kamu İşverenleri Sendikası Yayını.
• Altan, Ö. Z. (2021). Sosyal politikaya giriş. Eskişehir: Nisan Kitabevi.
• Anderson, E. S. (1999). What is the point of equality?. Ethics, 109, 287-337. https://doi.org/10.1086/233897
• Arneson, R. (1989). Equality and equal opportunity for welfare. Philosophical Studies, 56(1), 77-93. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4320032
• Arneson, R. (2015). Equality of opportunity. The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Summer, 2015), Edward N. Zalta (Ed.). https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equal-opportunity/
• Armstrong, C. (2005). Equality, risk and responsibility: Dworkin on the insurance market. Economy and Society, 34(3), 451-473. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085140500111915
• Arneson, R. (2008). Rawls, responsibility, and distributive justice. In M. Fleurbaey, M. Salles and J. A. Weymark (Eds.), Justice, political liberalism, and utilitarianism: Themes from Harsanyi and Rawls (pp. 80-107), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/justice-political-liberalism-and-utilitarianism/A1A4843290A32D8056B0B72A7350395B
• Arun, M. O. (2017). Sosyal adalet ve eşitsizlik. In Y. Şişman (Ed.), Sosyal Sorunlar (pp. 30-57), Eskişehir: Anadolu Üniversitesi Basımevi.
• Arun, M. O. (2022). Back to the theory: Re-considering social policies as egalitarian pre-conditions of the liberal meritocracy. Labour and Society, 73(2), 1017-1042. https://doi.org/10.54752/ct.1097161
• Barry, N. (2006). Defending luck egalitarianism. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 23(1), 89-107. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24354966 Barry, N. (2008). Reassessing luck egalitarianism. The Journal of Politics, 70(1), 136-150. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1017/S0022381607080103
• Berkman, L. F. and Glass, T. (2000). Social integration, social networks, social support, and health. In L. S. Berkman and I. Kawachi (Eds.), Social epidemiology (pp. 137-173), New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780195377903.001.0001
• Bozkurt, V. (2000). Küreselleşmenin toplumsal sonuçları”, in Prof. Dr. Nusret Ekin’e armağan (pp. 187-202), Istanbul: Türk Ağır Sanayi ve Hizmet Sektörü Kamu İşverenleri Sendikası Yayını.
• Bozkurt, V., Arlı, N. B., İlhan, M. N., Usta, E. K., Budak, B., and Dev, M. A. (2023). Factors affecting negative attitudes towards covid-19 vaccines. The Journal of Humanity and Society, 13(1), 53-72. https://insanvetoplum.org/sayilar/13-1/m0674
• Christakis, N. A. and Fowler, J. H. (2007). The spread of obesity in a large social network over 32 years. New England Journal of Medicine, 357(4), 370-379. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmsa066082
• Cohen, G. A. (1989). On the currency of egalitarian justice. Ethics, 99(4), 906-944. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2381239
• Cohen, G. A. (2009). Fairness and legitimacy in justice, and: Does option luck ever preserve justice?. In S. Wijze, M. H. Kramer and I. Carter (Eds.), Hillel Steiner and the anatomy of justice – Themes and challenges (pp. 3-21), New York and London: Routledge.
• Cohen, G. A. (2011). On the currency of egalitarian justice, and other essays in political philosophy. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7rp56
• Dworkin, R. (1981a). What is equality? Part one: Equality of welfare. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 10, 185-246. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2264894
• Dworkin, R. (1981b). What is equality? Part two: Equality of resources. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 10, 283-345. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2265047
• Dworkin, R. (2000). Sovereign virtue: The theory and practice of equality. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1c3pd0r
• Dworkin, R. (2002). Sovereign virtue revisited. Ethics, 113(1), 106-143. https://doi.org/10.1086/341579
• Dworkin, R. (2003). Equality, luck and hierarchy. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 31(2), 190-198. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3557937
• Ekmekçi, E. P. and Arda, B. (2015). Luck egalitarianism, individual responsibility, and health. Balkan Medical Journal, 32(3), 244-254. https://doi.org/10.5152%2Fbalkanmedj.2015.150012
• Fleurbaey, M. (2002). Equality of resources revisited. Ethics, 113(1), 82-105. https://doi.org/10.1086/341320
• Garan, Ö., Yöney, E., and Bozkurt, V. (2021). Mask and adaptation to the distance during the pandemic period. In H. Gülerce, V. Nimehchisalem, V. Bozkurt, G. Dawes, and S. Raik-Galea (Eds.), Society in the covid-19 pandemic: Inequalities, challenges, and opportunities (pp. 87-112), Ankara: Pegem Akademi.
• Gülmez, M. (2017). Sosyal politika ve uluslararası sosyal politika kavramları: Tanım sorunu, tanımın öncülleri ve tarihsel boyut. In Kaya, P. A. and Güler, C. (Eds.), Uluslararası sosyal politika (pp. 11-39), İzmit-Kocaeli: Umuttepe Yayınları.
• Güloğlu, T. (2000). Türkiye’de sosyal güvenlik sisteminin temel sorunları. in Prof. Dr. Nusret Ekin’e armağan (pp. 219-228), Istanbul: Türk Ağır Sanayi ve Hizmet Sektörü Kamu İşverenleri Sendikası Yayını.
• Güven, S. (1997). Sosyal politikanın temelleri, Bursa: Ezgi Kitabevi.
• Halliday, D. (2016). Inheritance and hypothetical insurance. In W. Waluchow and S. Sciaraffa (Eds.), The Legacy of Ronald Dworkin (pp. 99-114), New York: Oxford University Publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190466411.001.0001
• Huang, Y. (2019). Justice as a personal virtue and justice as an institutional virtue: Mencius’s confucian virtue politics. Yearbook of Eastern and Western Philosophy, 4, 277-294. https://doi.org/10.1515/yewph-2020-0021
• Horowitz, R. and Jennings, J. (2018). Health and medicine. In J. Manza (Ed.), The sociology project 2.5 – Introducing the sociological imagination (pp. 388-417), New York: Pearson.
• Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
• Kibe, T. (2011). The relational approach to egalitarian justice: A critique of luck egalitarianism. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 14(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2010.517984
• Knight, C. (2005). In defence of luck egalitarianism. Res Publica, 11, 55-73. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-004-4973-z
• Knight, C. (2013). Luck egalitarianism. Philosophy Compass, 8(10), 924-934. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12077
• LeBar, M. (2020). Justice as a virtue. The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Fall, 2020), Edward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman (Eds.). https://plato.stanford.edu/ENTRIES/justice-virtue/#toc
• Lippert-Rasmussen, K. (2001). Egalitarianism, option luck, and responsibility. Ethics, 111(3), 548-579. https://doi.org/10.1086/233526
• Lippert-Rasmussen, K. (2023). Justice and bad luck. The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Spring, 2023), Edward N. Zalta (Eds.). https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/justice-bad-luck/
• Mason, A. (2000). Equality, personal responsibility and gender socialisation. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 100(3), 227-246. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/4545328 Nagel, T. (1991). Equality and partiality. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/0195098390.001.0001
• Otsuka, M. (2002). Luck, insurance and equality. Ethics, 113(1), 40-54. https://doi.org/10.1086/341322
• Ören, K. (2013). Sosyal politika. Ankara: Nobel.
• Parfit, D. (1984). Reasons and persons. Oxford: Clarendon Press and Oxford University Press. Rakowski, E. (2003). Equal justice. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
• Rawls, J. (1999). A theory of justice. Revised Edition, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvkjb25m
• Rawls, J. (2001). Justice as fairness: A restatement. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
• Segall, S. (2013). Equality and opportunity. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Smith, K. P. and Christakis, N. A. (2008). Social networks and health. Annual Review of Sociology, 34, 405-429. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.34.040507.134601
• Sunal, O. (2011). Sosyal politika: Sosyal adalet açısından kuramsal bir değerlendirme. SBF Dergisi, 66(3), 283-305. https://doi.org/10.1501/SBFder_0000002223
• Vallentyne, P. (2002). Brute luck, option luck, equality of initial opportunities. Ethics, 112(3), 529-557. https://doi.org/10.1086/339275