Equality, social justice and social welfare : a road map to the new egalitarianisms

This paper summarises the way equality has featured in the disciplines of social policy
and political theory leading up to the presentation of a new egalitarianian framework for thinking about and acting for equality. The paper presents a broadly chronological, integrated review of the place of equality within the subjects concerned. The longstanding problems of universalism and targeting are themes which recur throughout, and in New Labour’s approach to equality and social justice.