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Joseph Fishkin
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Bottlenecks: A New Theory of Equal Opportunity 1st Edition

by Joseph Fishkin (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 7 ratings
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Equal opportunity is a powerful idea, and one with extremely broad appeal in contemporary politics, political theory, and law. But what does it mean? On close examination, the most attractive existing conceptions of equal opportunity turn out to be impossible to achieve in practice, or even in theory. As long as families are free to raise their children differently, no two people's opportunities will be equal; nor is it possible to disentangle someone's abilities or talents from her background advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, given different abilities and disabilities, different people need different opportunities, confounding most ways of imagining what counts as "equal."

This book proposes an entirely new way of thinking about the project of equal opportunity. Instead of focusing on the chimera of literal equalization, we ought to work to broaden the range of opportunities open to people at every stage in life. We can achieve this in part by loosening the bottlenecks that constrain access to opportunities-the narrow places through which people must pass in order to pursue many life paths that open out on the other side. A bottleneck might be a test like the SAT, a credential requirement like a college degree, or a skill like speaking English. It might be membership in a favored caste or racial group. Bottlenecks are part of the opportunity structure of every society. But their severity varies. By loosening them, we can build a more open and pluralistic opportunity structure in which people have more of a chance, throughout their lives, to pursue paths they choose for themselves-rather than those dictated by limited opportunities. This book develops this idea and other elements of opportunity pluralism, then applies this approach to several contemporary egalitarian policy problems: class and access to education, workplace flexibility and work/family conflict, and antidiscrimination law.
Previous page
  1. ISBN-10
    0199812144
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0199812141
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  5. Publication date
    February 11, 2014
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    9.4 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
  8. Print length
    288 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This breakthrough book rethinks equality from the ground up, turning the spotlight on unexplored bottlenecks in the pursuit of a more just society. A fundamental contribution." --Bruce Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale University

"Joseph Fishkin develops the 'bottleneck' metaphor into a powerful lens for understanding the structure of opportunity in our society, and thereby recasts the 'equal opportunity' project in a way that is both novel and resonant with deeply rooted intuitions about fairness." --Cynthia Estlund, Catherine A. Rein Professor of Law, New York University School of Law

"Bottlenecks breaks a major step forward in conceptualizing how to promote meaningful opportunities for human flourishing in a world of pluralism as well as inequality. It is a breath of fresh air amidst stale debates over abstract conceptions of equaliy-but more importantly, it charts a path of conceptual and policy development that has enormous promise." --Rogers M. Smith, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania

"Joseph Fishkin offers a new and important framework for defining equal opportunity - one that gets beyond questions of 'merit.' If what looks like 'merit' is more often than not a result of advantages that can be bought, how can opportunities ever be 'equal'? Fishkin provides an original answer, suggesting new ways to open up opportunities by loosening the bottlenecks that are holding people back." --Lani Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

"Bottlenecks reinvigorates the concept of equal opportunity by simultaneously engaging with its complications and attempting to simplify its ambitions. Fishkin's observations about human development also advance the social model of disability, in which disability is seen not as fundamentally physiological but rather as socially constructed." --Michigan Law Review

Book Description

Introduces a powerful new way of understanding equal opportunity

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (February 11, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199812144
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199812141
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.14 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 7 ratings

About the author

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Joseph Fishkin

Joseph Fishkin

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Joseph Fishkin is a Professor of Law at UCLA, where he teaches and writes about employment discrimination law, election law, constitutional law, education law, fair housing law, poverty and inequality, and distributive justice.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
7 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read for anyone interested in social change and how ...
Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2016
Verified Purchase
Great read for anyone interested in social change and how we can get people to work together to solve social problems now and in the future.
One person found this helpful
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Marie Hammond
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2017
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Writing is a bit pedantic, however, interesting thesis.
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Murray Johnson
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2016
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Opportunity pluralism is an interesting take on equal opportunity. Definitely worth a read.
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reviewia
5.0 out of 5 stars “insights for theory, practice, and even parenting”
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2014
Bottlenecks is a beautifully written work of theory with serious practical implications. It’s full of accessible prose, pithy articulations of complex philosophical and scientific ideas, and evocative imagined worlds that illustrate key concepts.

This is a story about equal opportunity with far more emphasis on opportunity than on equality. Fishkin argues that we should care about equality to the extent that it serves the goal of expanding individual opportunities (and inclinations) to pursue diverse concepts of the good. Bottlenecks—where many people have to pass through the same narrow passageway to achieve many diverse goods—are a problem both for those who fail to surmount them and for those who succeed. Those who fail to pass through the bottleneck should obviously be concerned about losing the tangible goods on the other side, but even those who succeed have cause for concern: their preferences have been shaped along paths that may be unrelated to the ultimate goods they seek. Reducing the limitations imposed by bottlenecks is therefore important to enhancing freedom as well as equality.

Interestingly, for the parents out there, Fishkin’s story also manages to convey sympathy, even empathy, for parents of all stripes. In his analysis of the unequal developmental opportunities children encounter, the parents of high and low SES children both come off as eminently understandable in their paths with regard to their children. Few writers concerned with equality can resist the popular sport of mocking high SES parents for their “helicopter,” activity-rich, educationally ambitious parenting style. Fishkin instead uses his theory to offer these parents some empathy, observing that, in a society with important tests that operate as bottlenecks, “of course parents pass whatever advantages they can to their children….It would be irrational to do otherwise, given that the test is the bottleneck through which one must pass to reach any path that anyone (without very idiosyncratic preferences) would value.” Where basic necessities like decent health care, as well as opportunities for diverse forms of flourishing, emerge principally from two main competitive bottlenecks (college degrees and money), what could be more rational than to help your children succeed on those tests? This, Fishkin shows, is why we need structural solutions rather than individual judgments.

And the structural solutions he proposes are varied and sometimes quite surprising. Well worth the read for anyone interested in theories of equality, education, parenting, or freedom.
10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Toni
5.0 out of 5 stars He is pleased with it
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2018
Verified Purchase
Arrived on time. It was a present for my son. He is pleased with it. Good second hand quality. Good book
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