The Problem with Fairness
Several years ago I went with my oldest son's gifted student's class on a field trip to Seattle's Pacific Science Center. I was responsible for 4 boys. When lunch time came one of the boys in my group had brought his lunch, while the 3 other boys, including mine, were carrying money to buy lunch in the snack shop. I left the 4 boys under supervision of another parent while I went to snack bar to buy junk food lunch. When I explained to the boys that I was going into the snack bar to buy hot dogs or burgers for 3 of them the boy who had brought his lunch looked down at the brown bag that his mother had prepare with love, and thought about the egg salad, peanut butter and jelly or ham that it contained and realized that he was not getting the same thing the other kids did . The six-year old, speaking in a very angry tone, as if I had mistreated him said, "Mr. Griffis, that's not equitable." Being the mean uncompassionate conservative that I am (also considering that maybe there might have been a medical reason that his mom sent the lunch) I said to him, "life is not equitable."
It is a cute story when you are talking about a 6-year old but I get very frustrated when I witness adults who are denying themselves happiness by demanding fairness at every turn. The problem is many of us confuse fairness with equity. We think that we can only be happy if we always get the same things everyone else does . That we all must be treated equally. Fairness involves impartiality, consistency transparency. It means that when operating a business or playing a game all parties play by the same rules. Equity means result are equal. Most people use the claim "that's not fair," to demand they be treated exactly the same as ever one else. They are like a 6 year old child who is forced to eat a brown bag lunch when the other kids are getting junk food. Successful social transactions require fairness, but equity is demeaning.
Here's what I mean: If we demand everyone be treated the same their will be no winners or losers, no rewards, no consequences, no distinctions, only have and have nots. Who would want to excel in athletic pursuit if winners could not be recognized. We all know the reason communism failed was there was no incentive to improve. The fact is people are different, have differing abilities; there is no harm done in recognizing those distinctions, different sexes, different heights weight intellectual pursuits mean we will have different perceptions of reality and outcomes to our pursuits. That is just reality. It is not unfair. The fact that some people are born in Rwanda and some in Martha's Vinyard does not make one person better than the other. Their birth is not unfair, although their governments may not give them the same opportunities.
A demand for equity can result in harm. It usually means someone has the power to give rewards, and someone is in need. If everyone is treated equitably, no one can be allowed to advance, improve or change. Equity denies hope and justice.
This past week the new owner of our company had a meeting to orient us about new policies. Under our prior owner all employees had casual dress on Fridays and weekends. Under the new owner for people who work traditional m-f; they will only have casual dress the last Friday of the month. This means those who work Saturday and Sunday will get to dress down 8 days a month, while those who work 40 hours weeks will only get one day a month. Many employees complained to the new owner "that's not fair." How silly! I don't work Saturday and Sunday. I am at home with my family doing Saturday and Sunday kind of things. It does not hurt me that some of those who do not have the privilege of having weekends off dress down. What do I care? I can assure you if the policy changes those of us who only can where jeans one day a month will not get more casual days. What will happen is those who work Saturday and Sunday will lose the privilege. This will not result in equity, because most who work Saturday and Sunday do not work Friday. They will wind up with no casual days. The demand for equity (in the name of fairness) will not result in everyone being treated the same. Rather it will further disenfranchise people. It will merely create one group who has fewer casual days than they had before and one group who has none. Demanding that everyone be treated the same only creates one group of halves and one group of have nots.
This is the fallacy of fairness. People who are happy are willing to live with inequities. There always be people who have more money, more opportunity and more privilege than me. I do not want to take anyone else's privilege away, because I can't have it. All I want is for us all to live by the same rules. Fairness means we all have the same opportunity to succeed or fail. It is a childish and unrealistic and harmful to pursue equity. This is why capitalism is superior morally to socialism. Building a social system on collective equity merely builds disparity between have and have not. Capitalism gives everyone the same opportunity and those who make the most of the opportunities get the most gain. Some one tell me how that is unfair?
It is a cute story when you are talking about a 6-year old but I get very frustrated when I witness adults who are denying themselves happiness by demanding fairness at every turn. The problem is many of us confuse fairness with equity. We think that we can only be happy if we always get the same things everyone else does . That we all must be treated equally. Fairness involves impartiality, consistency transparency. It means that when operating a business or playing a game all parties play by the same rules. Equity means result are equal. Most people use the claim "that's not fair," to demand they be treated exactly the same as ever one else. They are like a 6 year old child who is forced to eat a brown bag lunch when the other kids are getting junk food. Successful social transactions require fairness, but equity is demeaning.
Here's what I mean: If we demand everyone be treated the same their will be no winners or losers, no rewards, no consequences, no distinctions, only have and have nots. Who would want to excel in athletic pursuit if winners could not be recognized. We all know the reason communism failed was there was no incentive to improve. The fact is people are different, have differing abilities; there is no harm done in recognizing those distinctions, different sexes, different heights weight intellectual pursuits mean we will have different perceptions of reality and outcomes to our pursuits. That is just reality. It is not unfair. The fact that some people are born in Rwanda and some in Martha's Vinyard does not make one person better than the other. Their birth is not unfair, although their governments may not give them the same opportunities.
A demand for equity can result in harm. It usually means someone has the power to give rewards, and someone is in need. If everyone is treated equitably, no one can be allowed to advance, improve or change. Equity denies hope and justice.
This past week the new owner of our company had a meeting to orient us about new policies. Under our prior owner all employees had casual dress on Fridays and weekends. Under the new owner for people who work traditional m-f; they will only have casual dress the last Friday of the month. This means those who work Saturday and Sunday will get to dress down 8 days a month, while those who work 40 hours weeks will only get one day a month. Many employees complained to the new owner "that's not fair." How silly! I don't work Saturday and Sunday. I am at home with my family doing Saturday and Sunday kind of things. It does not hurt me that some of those who do not have the privilege of having weekends off dress down. What do I care? I can assure you if the policy changes those of us who only can where jeans one day a month will not get more casual days. What will happen is those who work Saturday and Sunday will lose the privilege. This will not result in equity, because most who work Saturday and Sunday do not work Friday. They will wind up with no casual days. The demand for equity (in the name of fairness) will not result in everyone being treated the same. Rather it will further disenfranchise people. It will merely create one group who has fewer casual days than they had before and one group who has none. Demanding that everyone be treated the same only creates one group of halves and one group of have nots.
This is the fallacy of fairness. People who are happy are willing to live with inequities. There always be people who have more money, more opportunity and more privilege than me. I do not want to take anyone else's privilege away, because I can't have it. All I want is for us all to live by the same rules. Fairness means we all have the same opportunity to succeed or fail. It is a childish and unrealistic and harmful to pursue equity. This is why capitalism is superior morally to socialism. Building a social system on collective equity merely builds disparity between have and have not. Capitalism gives everyone the same opportunity and those who make the most of the opportunities get the most gain. Some one tell me how that is unfair?
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