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Daniel Chandler

Free and Equal: What Would a Fair Society Look Like? Hardcover – 20 April 2023

by Daniel Chandler (Author)

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*A Waterstones, Financial Times and New Statesman Book of the Year*

'A tremendous book, timely, wise, authoritative and clear' Stephen Fry
'A brilliantly eloquent, incredibly insightful reimagining of liberalism' Owen Jones
'Clear, brave, compelling' David Miliband
'Inspiring ... impassioned ... full of hope' Zadie Smith
'This is a fantastic book' Thomas Piketty

Imagine: you are designing a society, but you don't know who you'll be within it - rich or poor, man or woman, gay or straight. What would you want that society to look like?

This is the revolutionary thought experiment proposed by the twentieth century's greatest political philosopher, John Rawls. As economist and philosopher Daniel Chandler argues in this hugely ambitious and exhilarating intervention, it is by rediscovering Rawls that we can find a way out of the escalating crises that are devastating our world today.

Taking Rawls's humane and egalitarian liberalism as his starting point, Chandler builds a careful and ultimately irresistible case for a progressive agenda that would fundamentally reshape our societies for the better. He shows how we can protect free speech and transcend the culture wars; get money out of politics; and create an economy where everyone has the chance to fulfil their potential, where prosperity is widely shared, and which operates within the limits of our finite planet.

This is a book brimming with hope and possibility - a galvanising alternative to the cynicism that pervades our politics. Free and Equal has the potential not only to transform contemporary debate, but to offer a touchstone for a modern, egalitarian liberalism for many years to come, cementing Rawls's place in political discourse, and firmly establishing Chandler as a vital new voice for our time.

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416 pages
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English
Publisher

Allen Lane
Publication date

20 April 2023
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15.2 x 4.4 x 23.6 cm
ISBN-10

0241428386
ISBN-13

978-0241428382

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A robust and inspiring case for the philosophy of John Rawls, dragging his theory of justice down from Harvard's ivory towers and into the street with the people. In clear and impassioned style [Chandler] returns Rawls to the center of the conversation, where he belongs, re-establishing his work as a potential agent of radical - and practicable - change... intellectually rigorous and full of hope -- Zadie Smith

A beautifully written and compelling argument that Rawlsian political philosophy can heal our broken societies and make us, indeed, free and equal -- Professor Sir Angus Deaton, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and author of Deaths of Despair

This is a fantastic book. More than ever, we need philosophers to participate in the public debate about inequality and sustainability. In Free and Equal Daniel Chandler provides us with the moral basis for an ambitious egalitarian agenda, and a roadmap for putting this into practice. It is a must-read! -- Thomas Piketty

A tremendous book, timely, wise, authoritative and clear. The world will fall on it like tired labourers falling on a tray of donuts -- Stephen Fry

A brilliantly eloquent, incredibly insightful reimagining of liberalism, and by such a compelling writer -- Owen Jones

An exceptionally sane, judicious essay on what a viable democracy entails... [Chandler] develops a realistic, humane - and in its way, revolutionary - vision of a society committed to equity, inclusion and accountability. It should become an indispensable tool in political debate in the years ahead -- Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury

So many of the answers to our dilemmas about democracy and inequality can be found in the philosophy of John Rawls. Daniel Chandler brings those answers to life with contemporary evidence and solutions. Read Free and Equal and feel hopeful about the future -- Minouche Shafik

Chandler has an excellent background on the philosophical issues that are central to practical policy making, and given the lucidity and reach of what he writes, this book will meet a very important need -- Amartya Sen, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics

Many of us wonder idly why we can't live in a kinder world. Daniel Chandler has done us all a significant favour by devising a powerful analysis of exactly why the world is not presently kind and how it might become more so. An inspiring work which returns political philosophy to its rightful position: that of working out how to make things better -- Alain de Botton

Clear, brave, compelling. This book shows how to put values at the heart of politics in a rigorous way, and is an important contribution to the future of progressive politics -- David Miliband

This is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of the left, and indeed the future of liberal democracy -- Jon Cruddas MP

A magnificent attempt to apply fundamental philosophical principles to the practical building of a better world. Far-reaching and well-evidenced, it offers a new, coherent, principles-based approach to policy design -- Professor Lord Richard Layard

In this very timely and refreshing book, Daniel Chandler argues that rather than abandon liberalism we must reimagine it. Free and Equal asks big questions about how human society should be organised, and offers answers all of us should take seriously, whatever our politics -- Jesse Norman MP

Daniel Chandler is the most exciting new thinker on the scene, making the most complex of ideas digestible even for idiots like me. Free and Equal provides a refreshingly hopeful tonic for our cynical times. I gulped it down -- Hadley Freeman

Invaluable... Chandler takes a set of universal principles around fairness, based on the philosophy of John Rawls, and applies them to the real world of liberal democracy -- Sir Vince Cable, former leader of the Liberal Democrats

A beautifully clear, inspiring, wise book with the potential not only to reinvent liberalism, but to transform our societies for the better -- Johann Hari

Daniel Chandler's provocative book helps make human possibilities more credible than they have been in our neoliberal age. Free and Equal doubles as an accessible guide to a leading philosophical system, and a call for a new agenda for justice in our time -- Samuel Moyn, author of Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World

Thought-provoking -- Linda Yueh, author of The Great Economists and The Great Crashes

Lucid and well-informed -- Philippe Van Parijs

Let's hope it is as widely read as it needs to be -- Kate Pickett, author of The Spirit Level

This is superb work, in both explaining Rawls for general readers and in applying Rawlsian principles to contemporary problems of social and political justice ... It is impressive - clear, concise, thorough, and accessible -- Professor Samuel Freeman, author of Rawls and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Rawls

A book full of ideals and ideas, optimism grounded in action. It is as energising as it is timely -- Andy Haldane, former Chief Economist of the Bank of England

This is a morally steadfast book, which liberalism's honest opponents should take for their target, and which will enliven liberal theory and perhaps even reinvigorate liberal political practice -- Daniel Markovits

A rousing and original argument against hopelessness which will convince even the most jaded among us that a better public debate and a more just world are indeed within reach -- Ryan Avent

A timely and thought-provoking look into society, Chandler's insights are much needed in today's world. Free and Equal offers a well-written perspective on how we live today and provides hope in practical ways for economies to operate for the better in the future -- Rupal Patel

A stirringly hopeful book ... An exemplary demonstration of how public reasoning can be done ... This is a kind of erudite public intellectualism reminiscent of Amartya Sen, and is a welcome respite from the knee-jerk moralism that dominates the op-ed pages and social media ― New Statesman

Powerfully argued and lucidly written ― Financial Times

Inspiring ... A stirring call for egalitarian liberalism based on the ideas of John Rawls ― Guardian

A breath of fresh air... Engaging, clear and persuasive ― Literary Review

Serious, progressive, and grounded in a great political philosopher ... Such a contrast to the trivia about liberal elites -- Will Hutton (via Twitter)

Fascinating -- Matt Lucas (via Twitter)

Important... skilful... Free and Equal is a shining example of how a lucid writer can make complex arguments clearer and develop practical proposals to improve society -- Paschal Donohoe ― Irish Times

Attractively written and strongly argued ... This is a welcome reminder of what progressive politics should be -- Jonathan Wolff ― Times Literary Supplement

Genuinely original... An inspiring catalogue of fresh ideas each with a clear and jargon-free philosophical underpinning drawn from Rawls' work -- John Mitchinson ― Byline Times

A crisp exposition of Rawls's principles ... skipping freely between gritty evidence and high theory, and grappling impressively and impatiently with practical obstacles to change ... Chandler is reminiscent of his one-time teacher, Amartya Sen ― Prospect

A refreshing and useful contribution to envisioning a better world… Free and Equal provides a model for what politically engaged philosophy should look like ― Jacobin

A really vibrant piece of work, which provides social democrats with something there's been precious little of for a long time: inspiration

-- Ian Dunt ― Waterstones (Book of the Year)

So refreshing to read substantive & beautifully expressed suggestions for improving almost everything -- James O’Brien (via Twitter)

Strikingly innovative … Chandler’s exposition of Rawls is exemplary … [Free and Equal] offers a theoretical framework whose coherence and sophistication will commend it to many on the British left who are still searching for an organizing ideological horizon ― The Critic

If liberal democracy is to survive as a form of government, it needs a complete rethink. So argues Chandler in this rousing homage to the political philosopher John Rawls ― The New York Times

From the Back Cover

This is a book brimming with hope and possibility - a much-needed alternative to the cynicism that pervades our politics, setting out a 'realistic utopia' that can galvanise people from all walks of life. Free and Equal has the potential not only to transform contemporary debate, but to offer a touchstone for a modern, egalitarian liberalism for many years to come, cementing Rawls's place in political discourse, and firmly establishing Chandler as a vital new voice for our time.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allen Lane
Publication date ‏ : ‎ 20 April 2023
Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0241428386
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0241428382
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 640 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.2 x 4.4 x 23.6 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 434,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 1,182 in Philosophy (Books)
- 3,229 in Business, Finance & Law

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171 ratings

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Daniel Chandler

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Daniel Chandler is an economist and philosopher based at the London School of Economics, where he is Research Director of the Programme on Cohesive Capitalism. He has degrees in economics, philosophy and history from Cambridge and the LSE, and was awarded a Henry Fellowship at Harvard where he studied under Amartya Sen. He has worked in the British Government as a policy advisor in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit and Deputy Prime Minister's Office, and as a researcher at think tanks including the Resolution Foundation and Institute for Fiscal Studies.

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7 customers mention ‘Ideas’5 positive2 negative

Customers appreciate the book's well-researched content and great ideas laid out, with one customer highlighting the interesting section on education.

"...It attempts to define fairness , and offer practical ideas of how such a society would look...." Read more

"...Chandler’s work is well researched and gives us a rallying cry for a new form of progressive politics...." Read more

"...Subsequent chapters on freedom and democracy are rather mundane and repetitive, but the section on education is interesting and stimulating...." Read more

"Really enjoyable read, great ideas laid out and made me feel more hopeful for the future. Hopefully this will inspire some future leaders." Read more

6 customers mention ‘Readability’6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book enjoyable to read.

"...once into it it was a bit of a page turner, certainly one of the better books I have read on this subject...." Read more

"Really enjoyable read, great ideas laid out and made me feel more hopeful for the future. Hopefully this will inspire some future leaders." Read more

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Andy V
Well written book on a complicated subject.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 January 2024
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I approached this book with some trepidation, it's a chunky volume on a quite complicated subject. It examines the work of John Rawls and his Theory of Justice. However once into it it was a bit of a page turner, certainly one of the better books I have read on this subject. You don't need to have read John Rawls to gain anything from it, in fact you can come into it quite 'cold' and still get a lot out of it.

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6 people found this helpful

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Stephen Black
Informative !!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 May 2023
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
A fascinating exploration of freedom both political & personal & their limits. It attempts to define fairness , and offer practical ideas of how such a society would look. A detailed political thesis will always illicit disagreement but there is a great deal to admire here. As a UK citizen whose democracy does not include a written constitution I found the discussion of proportional represented fascinating but feel it could have benefitted from considering how qualifications such as those in Germany link in with the overall definition of fairness
Highly recommended !!!!

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Mark Brown
Idealistic but maybe a good place to start
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 October 2024
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Our political discourse is split upon lines that are hundreds of years old: left versus right. Markets versus state. Freidman versus Keynes. But what if we could build a new foundation for our politics and economics from the ground up? This is what author Daniel Chandler brings to the table with is appraisal of the ideas of political philosopher John Rawls. He seeks to answer the BIG questions of our times: how to relieve inequality? How do we tackle climate change? How do we bring back integrity to our party politics? How do we build trust in democracy? Chandler introduces the reader to Rawls’ proposals for a “basic liberties principle”, “equality of opportunity”, “the difference principle”, "the just savings principle” and the “original position”. The author’s explanation of these is not entirely clear. Being an economist and philosopher himself Chandler struggles to communicate these principles forcing the reader to really pay attention. If you can wade through the early sections (which introduce and appraise these ideas) then the second half of the book becomes more solutions-orientated and easier to read. We applaud the idea that we can somehow reboot our society around new philosophies the spurn traditional tribal party politics. Unfortunately, Chandler regurgitates a whole bunch of liberal ideas that we have seen before. This is the crux of the problem. Rawls may have given us a new starting point but he offered few actual workable alternatives. His philosophy gave us the tools to re-order our priorities based upon a world where we look upon the status quo with completely fresh eyes and without preconceptions. What is worse is that Chandler’s interpretation of Rawls is just another point of view. It is not the only conclusions that can be drawn and other philosophers have taken a far more right-wing route in their interpretations.

You could argue that Chandler has just taken solutions that he likes and made the fit around Rawls’ philosophy rather than the other way around. Not that there is anything wrong with the solutions on offer. They are just a bit tired. Yes the UK could do with a written constitution and a proportional representative voting system. Yes we should get the money out of politics, address climate change, address inequality, raise taxes, embrace new forms of democracy at work. An so on, and on. It is utopian. Platitudinous. There is no route map. As it stands today there is absolutely zero political appetite for changes like this. Chandler throws everything in from patriotism to universal basic income. It is such a mixed bag. A hodge podge of every good idea that has no political traction whatsoever. We live in a real world where good people are fighting a desperate rear-guard action to stop fascism from taking grip. Our political system is so inept that a few extremists can easily convince over half the electorate to vote for ideas so truly awful that they beggars belief. Progressive politics is all but dead and this is just one more book brimming over with lots of great (albeit recycled) ideas that we so desperately need to be made real. To make it work we need great politics and greater politicians and both are in woeful supply. Chandler’s work is well researched and gives us a rallying cry for a new form of progressive politics. Yet it exists in an alternative reality far removed from the challenges we face. We have to fix the underlying operating code of politics so that we can get these real fixes on the table to be discussed. That forum barely even exists. Give us the tools and we will do the job. This book is the tool yet our hands are tied behind our backs. Thoughtful yet frustrating.

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MRS L J UNWIN
Good book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 June 2024
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Ordered for a present.
Good price, fast delivery.

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Steve millar
great book with fantastic ideas
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 May 2023
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
Really enjoyable read, great ideas laid out and made me feel more hopeful for the future. Hopefully this will inspire some future leaders.

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Geoff Crocker
Too deferential to Rawls, but good proposals on education and basic income
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 May 2023
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Daniel Chandler is an unqualified admirer of John Rawls, whom he acclaims as ‘the twentieth century’s greatest political philosopher’ (p3, 52), a claim advanced without evidence or proof, whilst contrarily admitting that Rawls made little public impact (p7), and ‘said relatively little about race’ (p185), despite this being a major issue in US society. Otherwise Chandler credits Rawls’ principles with almost universal ethical power. Rawls becomes a messianic figure.

Rawls’ theory of justice as fairness generates his principles of justice as equal claim to basic rights and liberties, equal opportunities, and maximising benefits to least advantaged people, his ‘maximin’ (p60) difference principle, all subject to his savings principle of inter-generational equity.

Chandler cites Robert Nozick’s critique of Rawls (p77) in defence of personal property rights. He also cites Amartya Sen’s view that Rawls is too ‘transcendental’ (p97). A wider contrast however is that whilst Sen in his ‘The Idea of Justice’ found justice elusive to define (in his example of which of 3 girls should own a flute, the one who made it, the one who can play it, or the one who has no other toys), Rawls’s principles suggest an almost mathematically exact maximin definition of distributive justice.

Subsequent chapters on freedom and democracy are rather mundane and repetitive, but the section on education is interesting and stimulating. Funding of early years education to the level of Denmark’s 1.3% of GDP (p176) to achieve the Scandinavian result where inherited income advantage is <20% compared to UK/US 50% (p172) is a compelling argument, as is reducing UK university student fees from being above any peer country (p183), and increasing UK education spend to international levels (p184). But the proposal to ban private schools (p177) is too extreme and counterproductive. The aim should be to level up not down, to create state schools performing equally as well as private schools. This is not impossible. I benefitted from a state school education in the 1960s, and at university found it an equally strong foundation to any privately schooled student. Parents currently contribute some £9bn to the education sector through private schools. Better to let them keep doing that whilst matching private schools offer in state schools.

Chandler is 100% right in proposing basic income (p210ff). Automation is reducing aggregate labour income, and conditionality wreaks havoc in poverty and unemployment traps, humiliation and intrusion. UBI is affordable as work with Cambridge Econometrics shows. More on the web site www.ubi.org. Hiking taxes is not the only solution. Wealth taxes have been withdrawn because wealth is a stock and income a flow, because wealth is held in many forms, making administration very complex. Can a wealth tax be paid in wealth? Workplace democracy is a fine concept, except that the skills of management, leadership and entrepreneurship are rare. The German model is appealing, but goes with long term stable stock market funding and a deep social contract which is widely embraced. Chandler then provides 110 page of notes, showing that the book is well researched.

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Nicole C.
Great book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 December 2023
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Super interesting used it for my personal statement. Great if your pursuing economics/business/management

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Richard Davies
The best book on Rawls, who was the best political philosopher since Aristotle
Reviewed in Italy on 8 June 2023
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I had long thought that, as a white middle-class male, Rawls did not pay sufficient attention to questions of race, class and gender. Chandler has done us all a favour by showing how the machinery of the Original Position can be put to work to make out a reform programme that also takes in a good deal of what is awry wiith capitalism in its present form and that might even mitigate the ecological disaster we are facing. Though it is only June, this sure to be my Book of the Year.

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Ryan Boissonneault
A compelling vision for a better society
Reviewed in the United States on 15 May 2024
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What happens when you prioritize money and economic growth above all other social, moral, and political considerations? Look around. This is the world neoliberalism created—unbounded greed, delusional faith in “markets,” rampant inequality, political incivility, environmental destruction, and widespread psychopathology. After 40 years of failed “trickle-down economics” based on the shoddy philosophy of Hayek, Freidman, and Nozick, it’s about time for a new plan and a new direction.

Luckily for us, we already possess the intellectual foundations for a better society, developed by the twentieth century’s greatest political theorist—John Rawls.

In this urgent political manifesto, Daniel Chandler describes and defends Rawls’s theory of justice and outlines its practical implications. The result is a vision for society that transcends the culture wars and reestablishes core values in society that cannot simply be reduced to the maximization of profits.

The core ideas of Rawlsian philosophy are simple enough. Society should be, above all, fair—the kind of society you would agree is fair if you didn’t know what position you’d hold in that society ahead of time. It’s the world you would want to live in regardless of whether you were born rich or poor, black or white, male or female, gay or straight. It is, essentially, a society where you would be best off if you happened to be born into the least advantaged position financially, intellectually, or socially. It’s a society that tolerates inequality (in contrast to Communism), but only insofar as it improves the standards of living for the least advantaged.

The key idea for Rawls is that in a pluralistic society, we shouldn’t expect to agree on much. We each have our own religions (or no religion) and various ideas about how to live a good life. We therefore can’t base our society on specific religious or philosophical viewpoints because we should never expect these to attain universal assent. Instead, our political institutions should establish and protect basic liberties (that we can all more or less agree on) that allow us to pursue these different goals according to the dictates of our own conscience. And it should establish and promote an equality of opportunity for everyone to do so—not, as is currently the case, an opportunity for the rich to simply get even richer. For Rawls, crucially, economic rights—to own unlimited amounts of property and to exploit others in the process—do not trump all other rights.

Chandler not only does a terrific job of explicating the theory and defending it from criticism from both the left and right, but also advances the thought of Rawls by showing us what its practical implications might look like—something Rawls never did, which probably explains why his ideas are not more politically actionable. This book is hopefully, for the sake of all of us, a remedy for this shortcoming.

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Dr. Peter J. Bourke
Excellent introduction to Rawls thought
Reviewed in Australia on 3 October 2024
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This is a clear easy to read explanation of John Rawls ideas such a “justice as fairness “ ,people being free and equal.Lots of ideas for friendly discussion.However I doubt if the times are favourable for the widespread adoption of his theory-that said anyone interested in humanity should read it.

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pass this along...more people need to know how to create a better future!
Reviewed in Canada on 3 June 2024
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J. Rugino
How would you choose to live? is a valid and important question
Reviewed in the United States on 22 August 2024
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Daniel Chandler writes about John Rawls' work THEORY OF JUSTICE in a clear and relevant way that it is important for contemporary readers to understand.
John Rawls wrote in the early 1970s asking "what kind of society would you choose to live in, if you didn't know where you would be within it - rich or poor, black or white, elite or marginalized, gay or straight, Christian or atheist, Muslim or infidel?
A decade later, Reaganism suppressed all such questions and questioning. "Fairness" itself was being discredited, so Rawls' philosophy had no 'standing', and it's only now that his ideas can be re-presented fairly with the expectation of being heard seriously.
Daniel Chandler's new work is both timely and valuable. This is important, this means something.

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J. Rugino

How would you choose to live? is a valid and important question

Reviewed in the United States on 22 August 2024
Daniel Chandler writes about John Rawls' work THEORY OF JUSTICE in a clear and relevant way that it is important for contemporary readers to understand.
John Rawls wrote in the early 1970s asking "what kind of society would you choose to live in, if you didn't know where you would be within it - rich or poor, black or white, elite or marginalized, gay or straight, Christian or atheist, Muslim or infidel?
A decade later, Reaganism suppressed all such questions and questioning. "Fairness" itself was being discredited, so Rawls' philosophy had no 'standing', and it's only now that his ideas can be re-presented fairly with the expectation of being heard seriously.
Daniel Chandler's new work is both timely and valuable. This is important, this means something.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Well written book on a complicated subject.

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative !!

4.0 out of 5 stars Idealistic but maybe a good place to start

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book

5.0 out of 5 stars great book with fantastic ideas

4.0 out of 5 stars Too deferential to Rawls, but good proposals on education and basic income

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on Rawls, who was the best political philosopher since Aristotle

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling vision for a better society

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to Rawls thought

5.0 out of 5 stars pass this along...more people need to know how to create a better future!

5.0 out of 5 stars How would you choose to live? is a valid and important question

How would you choose to live? is a valid and important question

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Well written book on a complicated subject.

Informative !!

Idealistic but maybe a good place to start

Good book

great book with fantastic ideas

Too deferential to Rawls, but good proposals on education and basic income

Great book

The best book on Rawls, who was the best political philosopher since Aristotle

A compelling vision for a better society

Excellent introduction to Rawls thought

pass this along...more people need to know how to create a better future!

How would you choose to live? is a valid and important question