Toward an equality-promoting interpretation of socio-economic rights in South Africa : insights from the egalitarian liberal tradition
Date
2015-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Juta Law
Abstract
Theorists within the egalitarian liberal tradition have grappled with the question of how to
achieve an alignment between the attribution of equal worth and citizenship to each person
and the distribution of material resources in democratic societies. Their insights are relevant
to devising constitutionally grounded strategies for redressing the intertwined challenges of
poverty and inequality in post-apartheid South Africa. This article examines the
implications of these theories for integrating the value of equality in the interpretation of
socio-economic rights by the courts. It concludes that Nancy Fraser’s principle of parity of
participation offers rich possibilities for rendering both reasonableness review and the
application of socio-economic rights to contractual relations more responsive to systemic
social and economic inequalities.
Description
CITATION: Liebenberg, S. 2015. Toward an equality-promoting interpretation of socio-economic rights in South Africa: Insights from the egalitarian liberal tradition. South African Law Journal, 132(2):411-437.
The original publication is available at https://journals.co.za/content/journal/ju_salj
The original publication is available at https://journals.co.za/content/journal/ju_salj
Keywords
socio-economic rights, egalitarian liberal tradition, inequality in South African income households, household income -- South African, inequality --South Africa
Citation
Liebenberg, S. 2015. Toward an equality-promoting interpretation of socio-economic rights in South Africa: Insights from the egalitarian liberal tradition. South African Law Journal, 132(2):411-437.