DWA RODZAJE RÓWNOŚCI
TWO TYPES OF EQUALITY

Summary/Abstract: This article offers a new perspective in the study of social inequality. Based on the fi ndings of economic historians and social scientists, two basic models of social stratifi cation are presented, characteristic of two dominant socio-economic systems: the gift economy and capitalism. While in the former reducing economic inequality goes hand in hand with increasing political inequality, in the latter reducing political inequality entails increasing economic inequality. This leads to the conclusion that there is a certain indelible tension between these two types of equality. This issue is discussed in the context of the classical approach to the mixed system. The power of the "one" and the power of the "many" prove unable to guarantee greater economic equality, therefore the author proposes as a solution a reform of the crisis-ridden power of the "few."

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