What Is Fairness?
Peter Watt thinks "fairness" is too ambiguous to be an election winner.
20 Sep 2011, 19:30
What is fairness?
The public will only accept continuing austerity if it is seen to be fair. Yet there is currently a great sense of grievance that workers and pensioners are paying the penalty for a crisis they did not create.
And the Tories certainly see themselves as being a party of fairness. In other words, all of the Parties seem pretty certain that their party is the true owner of all that is fair! Even better, they all seem to be as certain that the approaches of their opponents is blatantly unfair. In fact, branding the Tories as being inherently unfair seems a central plank of the Lib Dems current clumsy attempts to differentiate themselves from their Coalition partners. Presumably because in contrast the Lib Dems are a party of fairness? Similarly, I would suspect that you will hear a lot of speeches at the Labour Party Conference that passionately decry the Government as being essentially unfair.
But as I sat watching the events at Dale Farm unfold over the last couple of days I was struck with just how problematic this rush to fairness is. Everyone interviewed about the situation at the Traveller camp near Basildon said that it wasn’t fair. Not fair that families were being evicted. Not fair that some people seem to be able to flout rules when others can’t or don’t. Not fair that a community is being forcibly uprooted. Not fair that some have to stick to planning regulations whilst others do not. Not fair that people can’t live on their own land. Not fair that people have to live next door to people who are making the lives of local people unpleasant. It wasn’t a battle over Dale Farm it was a battle over what is and isn’t fair. It seems that everyone involved needed a badge of ‘fairness’ to explain their position. They certainly were very keen to avoid being branded as ‘unfair’.
The definition of fairness is, according to Dictionary.com:
‘the state, condition, or quality of being fair, or free from bias or injustice; even-handedness’
And it defines ‘fair’ as:
• free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice: a fair decision; a fairjudge.
• legitimately sought, pursued, done, given, etc.; proper underthe rules: a fair fight.
So it is actually quite a complex concept that is inherently subjective. And therein is the problem for political parties. All of the Parties have different definitions of fairness and see themselves as being fair. And their definition and attitude to fairness says a lot about what their attitudes and values are generally. The voters then look on and make their own mind up. Which Party has the attitudes, the values that I feel most comfortable with?
If Dale Farm is one example of a clash of values and attitudes towards fairness there are countless others. Take the attitude to riots and the evictions of Council House Tenants; or the attitude towards the cuts or welfare benefit reform. Each side of the argument uses fairness as an underpinning of their stance. If you are a voter listening to the arguments you will not only notice who is saying that with which you agree. You will also see that some people seem to think that your position is unfair and presumably you will be quite irritated by this! Or worse, you might hear a Party claim to be the Party of fairness only to then do or support something that you personally think is inherently unfair. So they either lied or are hypocrites, probably both.
Right now, Labour clearly misunderstands this over attitudes towards the deficit for instance. They say that it is not fair that people who depend on public services and those employed in those public services should pay the price of deficit reduction. They say that is not fair that ‘bankers’ and ‘fat cats’ have got away with not paying their fair share. Those who disagree are effectively branded as being unfair. Now, many people might agree with the latter but are less sure about the former. They certainly feel that bankers should pay more. But they feel more strongly that it isn’t fair that that they themselves are paying more tax to pay for a Labour Government that got the economy wrong whilst those not working appear protected. And anyway, it would be unfair if the deficit is not dealt, you are just making life more difficult for their children. So from this perspective, Labour seems to be saying ‘worrying more about yourself and your family is unfair’.
It is a classic case of a clash of values; a clash over what is and isn’t fair. For Labour, fairness is about trying to be equitable, protecting the vulnerable and alleviating need. To many voters this comes over as sticking up for those who don’t take responsibility.
For years the Tories suffered similarly in that they were seen by many as unfairly being in favour of protecting the rich at the expense of the poor. They said that it wasn’t fair that wealth creators were taxed so much and indeed could demonstrate that tax takes were actually up when rates were down. So they reduced tax rates, and tax rates on the wealthiest in particular. To many voters this came over as protecting their rich mates at the same time as ordinary families were suffering from high unemployment.
But with the certainty that involvement in active politics can bring, many in political life make the mistake of assuming that their own values are automatically mainstream. Or at least should be if only people would listen. So all of the parties would be wise to be careful when they decide to play the fairness card. They should remember that what might seem obviously fair (or unfair) to them, may well not be obvious to people who do not share their values. It’s probably not a sensible way to win elections!
Comments (3)
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Hooray for this. Whenever a politician makes a claim of wanting fairness, it's pretty obvious that they define fairness as what they say and unfairness as what their opponents say. That's the definition.
There's a wider rule that you can discount any political slogan if you can't imagine anyone arguing for the opposite. e.g. Who's going to campaign for unfairness? The concept of fairness is, as you quite rightly point out, meaningless in political debate.
20/09/2011 20:33Exactly. I was told by wife not to raise this with our LibDem candidate who was canvassing at the last General Election - apparently it might be too hard a question.
So I got to ask where all the money was coming from for their tuition fees policy instead. Turns out that was a hard question too.
In "fairness" to the LibDem, at least he turned up to canvas and face the questions, unlike the Tory or Labour candidates.
21/09/2011 10:09Fairness is like the word "good". It's an adjective.
Good chair, good clock.
A good chair does not keep the time well.
I think there is a term like polymorphic-semantic or some such thing.
The bigger issue that terms like fairness are playing to our child's psyche. Fairness is what a mother does. She is fair. She offers unconditional love.
It's a sad reflection on an immature society that we have been programmed to need our mothers love as adults. Cameron talks of responsibility but offers unconditional love like a mother. He needs to understand he needs to act like a father on some issues and mother for those who are genuinely dependent on the state. Fathers teach their children how to behave as good citizens. Mothers teach their children to be secure in themselves.
Whilst I disagreed with many of the policies of Thatcher it's true to say she was the last father figure this country had.
Motherly love swamping politics is destroying the economy and social cohesion in this country.
21/09/2011 12:36