Abstract

This chapter puts pragmatist egalitarianism to work, and shows how it reconciles many of the disputes that philosophical egalitarians are engaged in. It also considers inequality in the real world and provides an analysis of racial inequality in the United States. Racial inequality involves a complex imbroglio of (a) institutions like banks, the criminal justice system, media of various kinds, public schools, the healthcare system, zoning laws, electoral politics, public transportation, etc., (b) private individual feelings and biases about black work ethic, loan worthiness, personal responsibility, attitude, ambition, etc., (c) nebulous cultural meanings about black inferiority, violence, criminality, lesser intelligence, and, crucially, (d) the subtle ways in which (a), (b), and (c) mutually reinforce each other. The argument in this chapter is that all three variables are irreducible, triangulated, and mutually constituting and supporting.