Neoliberal Justifications of Economic Inequality

Economic inequality is a significant global social problem. Inequalities create concentrations of economic power that threaten sound democratic procedures, exploit workers, and facilitate countless social injustices. However, because there are significant benefits of inequality for a small group, they are frequently, systematically, and intellectually justified in a variety of ways. Perhaps the most significant intellectual justification of economic inequality is the ideology and movement of neoliberalism, which is essentially the economic ideology of contemporary global capitalism and “free markets.” This chapter identifies the key ideas of neoliberalism as they relate to inequality and outlines specific neoliberal justifications of economic inequality.