Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Fair Society: The Science of Human Nature and the Pursuit of Social Justice
    The Fair Society: The Science of Human Nature and the Pursuit of Social Justice
    The Fair Society: The Science of Human Nature and the Pursuit of Social Justice
    Ebook239 pages6 hours

    The Fair Society: The Science of Human Nature and the Pursuit of Social Justice

    By Peter Corning

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    We’ve been told, again and again, that life is unfair. But what if we’re wrong simply to resign ourselves to this situation? What if we have the power—and more, the duty—to change society for the better?

    We do. And our very nature inclines us to do so. That’s the provocative argument Peter Corning makes in The Fair Society. Drawing on the evidence from our evolutionary history and the emergent science of human nature, Corning shows that we have an innate sense of fairness. While these impulses can easily be subverted by greed and demagoguery, they can also be harnessed for good. Corning brings together the latest findings from the behavioral and biological sciences to help us understand how to move beyond the Madoffs and Enrons in our midst in order to lay the foundation for a new social contract—a Biosocial Contract built on a deep understanding of human nature and a commitment to fairness. He then proposes a sweeping set of economic and political reforms based on three principles of fairness—equality, equity, and reciprocity—that together could transform our society and our world.

    At this crisis point for capitalism, Corning reveals that the proper response to bank bailouts and financial chicanery isn’t to get mad—it’s to get fair.

     
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
    Release dateMar 1, 2011
    ISBN9780226116303
    The Fair Society: The Science of Human Nature and the Pursuit of Social Justice

    Related to The Fair Society

    Related ebooks

    Biology For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Trump’s New Recruits

      Sep 19, 2022

      Trump’s New Recruits
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Coming Climate Crisis

      Jan 22, 2019

      The Coming Climate Crisis
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Complex Relationship between Democracy and Freedom

      May 4, 2021

      The Cold War era, from the 1950s through the 1980s, saw a global ideological divide between the capitalist democracies of the Western bloc countries and the centrally planned dictatorships in the Eastern bloc. That ideological divide, both political

      30 min read

    • Article

      Ask A Scientist: Defending The Right To Vote

      Jul 7, 2021

      Talking to Taryn MacKinney, an investigative researcher with our Center for Science and Democracy, about how science is intertwined with democracy and the prospects for voting reform bills on Capitol Hill.

      1 min read

    • Article

      Austerity

      Feb 15, 2023

      Austerity
      2 min read

    • Article

      Michael Hiltzik: America Is Falling Out Of Love With Billionaires, And It's About Time

      Feb 1, 2019

      Our emerging political debate over taxing the rich seems to be getting bogged down in details - how high a tax rate, should we tax income or wealth, etc., etc. But this fixation on nuts and bolts is obscuring what may be the most important aspect of

      5 min read

    • Article

      The End of Economics?

      Jan 22, 2019

      The End of Economics?
      5 min read

    • Article

      Wealth By Stealth

      Jul 17, 2022

      Wealth By Stealth
      10 min read

    • Article

      By Marxist Contrast

      Mar 31, 2022

      No Marxist has ever lived during a period when capitalism didn’t exist, when it wasn’t already globally hegemonic. The argument that some places came to capitalism later, or that they arrived via state capitalism and emphasized social welfare or even

      4 min read

    • Article

      Hope From The Seed Of Trauma

      Feb 13, 2023

      Hope From The Seed Of Trauma
      10 min read

    • Article

      State Of Inertia

      May 28, 2023

      State Of Inertia
      12 min read

    • Article

      State Of Inertia

      May 28, 2023

      State Of Inertia
      12 min read

    • Article

      Best Of The Financial Columnists

      Mar 24, 2023

      Spencer Jakab The Wall Street Journal Wall Street traders surround themselves with screens, fund managers consult thousands of analysts and even retail investors now have access to a “fire hose” of information via their phones, says Spencer Jakab. B

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Big Quit

      Dec 15, 2021

      The Big Quit
      6 min read

    • Article

      Football Fans Have Shown How To Take On Corporate Power And Win | Owen Jones

      Apr 23, 2021

      If the age of There Is No Alternative has an ethos, it is this. Elected governments no longer have any levers to pull: their powers have been usurped by multinational corporations with no respect for borders, and politicians can merely surf passively

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Cause For Celebration

      Sep 30, 2020

      A Cause For Celebration
      15 min read

    • Article

      An Old Idea, Wrong As Ever

      May 21, 2019

      An Old Idea, Wrong As Ever
      5 min read

    • Article

      Surviving A Financial Crisis

      Oct 5, 2018

      Surviving A Financial Crisis
      12 min read

    • Article

      Can You Put A Price Tag On Life?

      Mar 1, 2020

      Can You Put A Price Tag On Life?
      5 min read

    • Article

      Progress And Its Discontents

      Jun 26, 2019

      Progress And Its Discontents
      19 min read

    • Article

      Heretics In The Marketplace

      Jul 24, 2017

      The ballot box was now obsolete, supplanted by a vast, continual referendum that had rendered political institutions little more than speed bumps on the road to market efficiency. The post Heretics in the Marketplace appeared first on The Millions.

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Investment We Need To Make Capitalism Work For All

      Jun 19, 2020

      ‘Capitalism’ has been misunderstood since it was coined in the 19th century. The term was first used as a criticism of the rising income gap between factory workers and factory owners. But until the early 20th century, it was rarely used; Karl Marx o

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Fair Society

    4/5

    6 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Corning attempts to provide a theory that will support a move beyond the tired battles between left and right in our national debates over public economic policies. He believes that both socialism and unregulated capitalism have failed to produce fair societies. Then he suggests what a fair society would involve. First everyone would be guaranteed what is needed to provide for basic human needs--not only nutrition, water, physical health, thermoregulation, but also reproduction and the nuturance of offspring--some 14 basic needs in all. This would satisfy the demand for equality which unregulated capitalism ignores. Everything the society can produce beyond these basic needs should be distributed according to merit, that is according to accomplishment as determined by ability, effort, etc. This would satisfy the requirement for equity which socialism ignores. Finally, everyone would be required to contribute as much to society as he or she is able. This would meet a requirement for reciprocity.Corning believes such a society can be brought about piecemeal in America and the western world if the seventy percent of the populace for whom basic fairness is a major value join with each other in a political and social struggle against the thirty percent for whom fairness to everyone matters little or not at all.The book is not a blueprint for action. It attempts to explain what social science has learned about human nature in recent decades and what kind of society would be in accord with what we have learned. I found the argument to be reasonable, mostly convincing, and very worthwhile to those of us who are increasingly discouraged about the unjustifiable economic immorality of America and those nations that attempt to emulate us.

    Book preview

    The Fair Society - Peter Corning

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1