Equal opportunity information

Equal opportunity is a state of fairness in which individuals are treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers, prejudices, or preferences, except when particular distinctions can be explicitly justified.^[1] For example, the intent of equal employment opportunity is that the important jobs in an organization should go to the people who are most qualified – persons most likely to perform ably in a given task – and not go to persons for reasons deemed arbitrary or irrelevant, such as circumstances of birth, upbringing, having well-connected relatives or friends,^[2] religion, sex,^[3] ethnicity,^[3] race, caste,^[4] or involuntary personal attributes such as disability, age.^[4]^[5] According to proponents of the concept, chances for advancement should be open to everybody without regard for wealth, status, or membership in a privileged group.^[6]^[7] The idea is to remove arbitrariness from the selection process and base it on some "pre-agreed basis of fairness, with the assessment process being related to the type of position"^[2] and emphasizing procedural and legal means.^[4] Individuals should succeed or fail based on their efforts and not extraneous circumstances such as having well-connected parents.^[8] It is opposed to nepotism^[2] and plays a role in whether a social structure is seen as legitimate.^[2]^[4]^[9] The concept is applicable in areas of public life in which benefits are earned and received such as employment and education, although it can apply to many other areas as well. Equal opportunity is central to the concept of meritocracy.^[10] There are two major types of equality:^[11]

Formal equality: individual merit-based comparison of opportunity.
Substantive equality: moves away from individual merit-based comparison towards group equality of outcomes.

^ Cite error: The named reference twsL19 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cite error: The named reference twsH11 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b Yo Jackson, ed. (2006), Encyclopedia of multicultural psychology, Sage Publications, ISBN 1-4129-0948-1, retrieved September 12, 2011
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cite error: The named reference twsL13 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Kamarck, Kristy N. "Diversity, Inclusion, and Equal Opportunity in the Armed Services: Background and Issues for Congress" (PDF). eCommons. Cornell University Library. p. 42. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
^ John W. Gardner (1984), Excellence: Can we be equal and excellent too?, Norton, p. 47, ISBN 0-393-31287-9, retrieved September 8, 2011
^ "Gender Equality". www.un.org. December 16, 2015. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
^ Valentino Dardanoni, University of Palermo, Gary S. Fields, Cornell University, John E. Roemer, Yale University, Maria Laura Sánchez Puerta, The World Bank (2006), "How Demanding Should Equality of Opportunity Be, and How Much Have We Achieved?", Cornell University – Digital Commons ILR, retrieved July 24, 2012, Agreement is widespread that equality of opportunity holds in a society if the chances that individuals have to succeed depend only on their efforts and not on extraneous circumstances.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Marjorie Conley (September 9, 2003). "Sciences Po – an elite institution's introspection on its power, position and worth in French society". portfolio. Retrieved September 12, 2011. created new entrance criteria for students coming from less economically favored social strata.
^ Crossman, Ashley. "Understanding Meritocracy From a Sociological Perspective". ThoughtCo. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
^ Cite error: The named reference EU was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[twsL19-1] Cite error: The named reference twsL19 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[twsH11-2] Cite error: The named reference twsH11 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[twsL25-3] Yo Jackson, ed. (2006), Encyclopedia of multicultural psychology, Sage Publications, ISBN 1-4129-0948-1, retrieved September 12, 2011

[twsL13-4] Cite error: The named reference twsL13 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[5] Kamarck, Kristy N. "Diversity, Inclusion, and Equal Opportunity in the Armed Services: Background and Issues for Congress" (PDF). eCommons. Cornell University Library. p. 42. Retrieved November 7, 2021.

[twsH77c-6] John W. Gardner (1984), Excellence: Can we be equal and excellent too?, Norton, p. 47, ISBN 0-393-31287-9, retrieved September 8, 2011

[7] "Gender Equality". www.un.org. December 16, 2015. Retrieved October 4, 2020.

[tws2X31-8] Valentino Dardanoni, University of Palermo, Gary S. Fields, Cornell University, John E. Roemer, Yale University, Maria Laura Sánchez Puerta, The World Bank (2006), "How Demanding Should Equality of Opportunity Be, and How Much Have We Achieved?", Cornell University – Digital Commons ILR, retrieved July 24, 2012, Agreement is widespread that equality of opportunity holds in a society if the chances that individuals have to succeed depend only on their efforts and not on extraneous circumstances.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[twsL15-9] Marjorie Conley (September 9, 2003). "Sciences Po – an elite institution's introspection on its power, position and worth in French society". portfolio. Retrieved September 12, 2011. created new entrance criteria for students coming from less economically favored social strata.

[10] Crossman, Ashley. "Understanding Meritocracy From a Sociological Perspective". ThoughtCo. Retrieved October 4, 2020.

[EU-11] Cite error: The named reference EU was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Equal opportunity information

and 26 Related for: Equal opportunity information

Equal opportunity

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Title IX

Equal Credit Opportunity Act

Equal employment opportunity

Egalitarianism

A Theory of Justice

Opportunity

Australian Human Rights Commission

Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity

Army Equal Opportunity Program

Equality of outcome

Equal Opportunities Commission

Kate Jenkins

Center for Equal Opportunity

Stolen Generations

Roberta Achtenberg

Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972

Social equality

Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment

Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974

Affirmative action

Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute

Universal access to education

Equal housing lender

Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism

Liberalism
Part of a series on

Schools Classical Conservative Cultural Democratic Feminist Equity Green Internationalist Muscular National Neo Ordo Radical Religious Christian Catholic Islamic Jewish Secular Social Techno Third Way
Principles Consent of the governed Due process Democracy Economic liberalism Economic globalization Equality Gender Legal Federalism Freedom Economic Market Trade Press Religion Speech Harm principle Internationalism Invisible hand Labor theory of property Laissez-faire Liberty Negative Positive Limited government Market economy Natural monopoly Open society Permissive society Popular sovereignty Property Private Public Rights Civil and political Natural and legal To own property To bear arms Rule of law Secularism Secular humanism Separation of church and state Separation of powers Social contract Social justice Social services Welfare state State of nature
History Age of Enlightenment List of liberal theorists (contributions to liberal theory)
Philosophers Milton Locke Spinoza Montesquieu Voltaire Rousseau Smith Kant Turgot Burke Priestley Paine Beccaria Condorcet Bentham Korais De Gouges Wollstonecraft Staël Say Humboldt Constant Ricardo Guizot List Bastiat Martineau Emerson Tocqueville Mill Spencer Arnold Acton Weber Hobhouse Croce Cassirer Mises Ortega Keynes Collingwood Čapek Hu Hayek Popper Aron Berlin Friedman Rawls Sen Nozick Kymlicka Badawi
Politicians Jefferson Kołłątaj Madison Artigas Bolívar Broglie Lamartine Macaulay Kossuth Deák Cobden Mazzini Juárez Lincoln Gladstone Cavour Sarmiento Mommsen Naoroji Itagaki Levski Kemal Deakin Milyukov Lloyd George Venizelos Ståhlberg Gokhale Rathenau Madero Einaudi King Roosevelt Pearson Ohlin Kennedy Jenkins
Organizations Africa Liberal Network Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party Arab Liberal Federation Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats European Democratic Party European Liberal Youth International Alliance of Libertarian Parties International Federation of Liberal Youth Liberal International Liberal Network for Latin America Liberal parties Liberal South East European Network
Regional variants Europe Latin America Albania Armenia Australia Austria Belgium Bolivia Brazil Bulgaria Canada Chile China Hong Kong Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia Denmark Ecuador Egypt Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Venizelism Honduras Hungary Iceland India Iran Israel Italy Liberism Japan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Mexico Moldova Montenegro Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria North Macedonia Norway Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Cracovian Portugal Romania Russia Senegal Serbia Slovakia Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Tunisia Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Cobdenism Gladstonian Manchester Whiggism United States Arizona School Classical Jeffersonian Modern Uruguay Venezuela Zimbabwe
Related topics Anti-authoritarianism Anti-communism Bias in American academia Bias in the media Capitalism Democratic Centrism Radical centrism Economic freedom Egalitarianism Empiricism Humanism Individualism Anarchist Land value tax Libertarianism Left Right Pirate Party Sexually liberal feminism Utilitarianism
Liberalism portal Politics portal
v t e