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Title details for Social Justice Fallacies by Thomas Sowell - Available

Social Justice Fallacies

by Thomas Sowell
Brad Sanders
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
The quest for social justice is a powerful crusade of our time, with an appeal to many different people, for many different reasons. But those who use the same words do not always present the same meanings. Clarifying those meanings is the first step toward finding out what we agree on and disagree on. From there, it is largely a question of what the facts are. Social Justice Fallacies reveals how many things that are thought to be true simply cannot stand up to documented facts, which are often the opposite of what is widely believed.
However attractive the social justice vision, the crucial question is whether the social justice agenda will get us to the fulfillment of that vision. History shows that the social justice agenda has often led in the opposite direction, sometimes with catastrophic consequences.
More things are involved besides simply mistakes. All human beings are fallible, and social justice advocates may not necessarily make any more mistakes than others. But crusaders with an utter certainty about their mission are often undeterred by obstacles, evidence or even fatal dangers. That is where much of the Western world is today. The question is whether we will continue on heedlessly, past the point of no return.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 19, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781668629420
      • File size: 177586 KB
      • Duration: 06:09:58

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      November 15, 2023
      The noted conservative economist delivers arguments both fiscal and political against social justice initiatives such as welfare and a federal minimum wage. A Black scholar who has lived through many civil rights struggles, Sowell is also a follower of Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, who insisted that free market solutions are available for every social problem. This short book begins with what amounts to an impatient declaration that life isn't fair. Some nations are wealthy because of geographical advantages, and some people are wealthy because they're smarter than others. "Some social justice advocates may implicitly assume that various groups have similar developed capabilities, so that different outcomes appear puzzling," he writes. In doing so, he argues, they fail to distinguish between equal opportunity and equal capability. Sowell is dismissive of claims that Black Americans and other minorities are systematically denied a level playing field: Put non-white kids in charter schools, he urges, and presto, their math scores will zoom northward as compared to those in public schools. "These are huge disparities within the same groups, so that neither race nor racism can account for these huge differences," he writes, clearly at pains to distance himself from the faintest suggestion that race has anything to do with success or failure in America. At the same time, he isn't exactly comfortable with the idea that economic inequalities exist, and he tries to finesse definitions to suit his convictions: "The terms 'rich' and 'poor' are misleading in another and more fundamental sense. These terms apply to people's stock of wealth, not their flows of income." As for crime? Give criminals more rights, he asserts, as with Miranda v. Arizona, and crime rates go up--an assertion that overlooks numerous other variables but fits Sowell's ideological slant. For those satisfied with blame-the-victim tidbits of received wisdom.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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