Introduction

Equality is one of the values our Constitution promises to every citizen, and this chapter asks what that promise actually means in practice. It works through four linked questions: what equality is and why it matters as a moral and political ideal; whether pursuing equality means treating every person in exactly the same way in every situation; how the political, social and economic dimensions of equality differ from one another; and how a society can actually promote equality and minimise inequality in real life.

Along the way you will meet some of the major political ideologies that have shaped modern debates on equality — liberalism, socialism, Marxism and feminism — and look at real facts and figures about inequality in India and the world. These figures are there to help you appreciate the scale and pattern of inequality; you are not expected to memorise them.