The belief that existing distributions of income and wealth are unjust has come to be widely held, and has prompted the inclusion of egalitarian measures in many political programmes. This work uses the methods of reasoned history and comparative statistics to arrive at an assessment of egalitarianism. After reviewing the outlooks of the ancient and medieval worlds, it traces the rise of egalitarianism from the Renaissance and Reformation onwards.

A complementary approach is provided by a wide survey of actual distributions of income and wealth: what is known of them in the past, what form they take in contemporary societies, and the economic processes that generate them. These comprehensive studies lead to an inquiry into the authority of equality as a principle of social philosophy, and the practicability of egalitarian policy.