Contemporary challenges to equality

Abstract

The paper discusses four contemporary processes that pose new challenges to the quest for equality: first, the rise of the ecological concern; second, the disentanglement of nation and state; third, the redefinition of civil society and solidarity; and fourth, the quest for complementarity between equality and difference. These four aspects are explored as components of an encompassing cultural change that evokes the idea of a new great transformation, to recall Polanyi’s thesis. The major argument is that in this new scenario the ways of perceiving social differences and inequalities are profoundly affected, while conventional policies to tackle poverty and inequality call for revision.