Fairness: Its Role in Our Lives
14th Social Research Conference April 14-15, 2005
Fairness is a central motivating force in our private and public lives. Who gets what, how is it distributed, and how do we feel about the parceling out of power, resources, access, even attention; when allocation and distribution lead to indignation? The results can be explosive: witness the civil rights movement in the United States or, earlier, the Revolutionary War; the overthrow of apartheid in South Africa; the experiment of the Soviet Union. Current examples abound, from the struggle for a Palestinian state to questions of how to handle taxation, health insurance, and social security in the USA.
Equality, justice, and social change all have their roots in our perceptions of fairness, and the very ability to perceive fairness is itself rooted in the behavior of our animal ancestors. It arises early in childhood, when it is echoed in the familiar cry of "That's not fair." Understanding what drives those perceptions, and examining how issues of fairness have played out through history, is key to effecting lasting change.
This conference brings scientists, policy makers, historians, philosophers, and economists together in a public forum, to explore research on perceptions of fairness and consider historical case studies in the context of that science. Our shared purpose is to move toward informed solutions to some of the serious social problems that now confront us.
This conference is supported The Russell Sage Foundation
To order the related issue of Social Research: An International Quarterly
PROGRAM
Thursday April 14, 2005
Session 1: Science Looks at Fairness
Frans de Waal, C.H. Candler Professor of Primate Behavior; Director, Living Links, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University
Jon Elster, Robert K. Merton Professor of Social Science, Columbia University
Herbert Gintis, Santa Fe Institute
Matthew Rabin, Edward G. and Nancy S. Professor of Economics, University of California at Berkeley Moderator: Nicholas Humphrey, School Professor, London School of Economics
Session 2: Keynote Address
John Edwards, 2004 Vice Presidential Candidate and former U.S. Senator from North Carolina
Friday April 15, 2005
Session 3: When Does Fairness Become an Issue? General Conditions That Give Rise To a Sense of Unfairness
Lawrence Bobo, Professor of Sociology, Director, Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Stanford University
Jennifer Hochschild, Professor of Government and Afro-American Studies, Harvard University
Sidney Verba, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor, Harvard University
Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University Moderator: Victoria Hattam, Professor of Political Science, New School University
Session 4: Reasoning About Fairness and Unfairness in Law, Philosophy and Political Theory
Edna Ullmann-Margalit, Professor of Philosophy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Alan Ryan, Warden, New College, Oxford University
Ian Shapiro, William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor and Chair, Political Science, Yale University Cass Sunstein, Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Chicago Law School Moderator: Richard Bernstein, Vera List Professor of Philosophy, New School University
Session 5: Fairness and Social Justice
Christian Barry, Editor, Ethics and International Affairs, Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs
Julian Le Grand, Richard Titmus Professor of Social Policy, London School of Economics
Richard Wilkinson, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham Medical School
Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, Former Ambassador of Mexico to the UN and Professor, National Autonomous University of Mexico Moderator: Michael Cohen, Director, International Affairs Program, New School University
