Ipotesi di quadratura del cerchio. Diseguaglianze, chances di vita e politica sociale in Ralf Dahrendorf

Abstract

In this article, the objective is to retrace the Dahrendorf’s analysis of the relationship between inequality, life chances and social policy. Dahrendorf’s way of conceiving social policy, functional to the expansion of life chances, constitutes, in fact, an original approach to the question of social inequality in terms not only of analytics but also of social and political governance. He considers the problem of inequality in the 21st century a matter of entitlements, not merely of available wealth. To propose the actualization of the Dahrendorf’s theory, we focus on the minimum basic income and the issue of civil rights of citizenship on a transnational/global scale. The conclusions discuss the hypothesis that the expansion of life chances requires a new social policy based on a long-term perspective, the reference to values of solidarity, linked to the ethics of public service, and requires a democratic institutional framework anchored in the rule of law.