GRE Reading Comprehension

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Source: CHP

One of the principal themes of Walzer's critique of liberal capitalism is that it is insufficiently egalitarian. Walzer's case against the economic inequality generated by capitalism and in favor of "a radical redistribution of wealth" is presented in a widely cited essay entitled "In Defense of Equality." The most striking feature of Walzer's critique is that, far from rejecting the principle of reward according to merit, Walzer insists on its validity. People who excel should receive the superior benefits appropriate to their excellence. But people exhibit a great variety of qualities—"intelligence, physical strength, agility and grace, artistic creativity, mechanical skill, leadership, endurance, memory, psychological insight, the capacity for hard work—even moral strength, sensitivity, the ability to express compassion."Each deserves its proper recompense, and hence a proper distribution of material goods should reflect human differences as measured on all these different scales. Yet, under capitalism, the ability to make money ("the green thumb of bourgeois society") enables its possessor to acquire almost "every other sort of social good,"such as the respect and esteem of others

Question List: 1 2

The author implies that Walzer's interpretation of the principle of reward according to merit is distinctive for its

  • A insistence on maximizing everyone's rewards
  • B emphasis on equality
  • C proven validity
  • D broad conception of what constitutes merit
  • E broad conception of what constitutes a reward

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