University of Chicago Law School Chicago Unbound Journal Articles Faculty Scholarship 1992 The Illusory Distinction between Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Result David A. Strauss Follow this and additional works at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_articles Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation David A. Strauss, "The Illusory Distinction between Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Result," 34 William and Mary Law Review 171 (1992). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Chicago Unbound. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of Chicago Unbound. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE ILLUSORY DISTINCTION BETWEEN EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND EQUALITY OF RESULT DAVID A. STRAUSS* I. INTRODUCTION "Our society should guarantee equality of opportunity, but not equality of result." One hears that refrain or its equivalent with increasing frequency. Usually it is part of a general attack on gov- ernment measures that redistribute wealth, or specifically on af- firmative action, that is, race- and gender-conscious efforts to im- prove the status of minorities and women. The idea appears to be that the government's role is to ensure that everyone starts off from the same point, not that everyone ends up in the same condi- tion. If people have equal opportunities, what they make of those opportunities is their responsibility. If they end up worse off, the government should not intervene to help them.1 In this Article, I challenge the usefulness of the distinction be- tween equality of opportunity and equality of result.