The Society of Equals

Pierre Rosanvallon

Translated by Arthur Goldhammer

“French political theorist Pierre Rosanvallon takes fresh stock of the ideal of equality in The Society of Equals, an ambitious bid to revive egalitarian thought in a global economy that no longer recognizes any moral or political legitimacy in schemes to redistribute wealth—let alone in more modest efforts to expand access to basic social goods such as health care, housing, or education… Rosanvallon deftly traces the slow collapse of the egalitarian tradition, mainly in the counterposed trajectories of French and American political thought.”—Chris Lehmann, Bookforum

“The best available treatment of equality as a condition of the common life.”—Michael Ignatieff

“In a rich and illuminating work of political theory and historical interpretation, Pierre Rosanvallon traces the rise and fall of the ideal of equality, from the American and French Revolutions to the present. And he argues for reviving equality as a moral and political project. The ‘society of equals’ he favors is less about redistribution than about recovering commonality as the basis of social relations. At a time when the welfare state has lost its capacity to inspire, Rosanvallon, one of Europe’s most distinguished political theorists, offers a way of recasting the case for a more equal society.”—Michael J. Sandel, author of What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets

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