Progress Towards Just Cities - Theme Cities: Solutions for Urban Problems - page 105

manity and increasing their dignity and self-worth. It is also worth noting that high
levels of inequality have been shown to lead to slower recovery from recessions, in
part because of lower spending by the increasingly economically challenged middle
classes. So increasing inequality ought to be challenged on this practical ground as
well (Wilkinson and Pickett 2009 ).

3﻽6﻽5﻽2 Countering Contributionist Views

A second problem to be addressed in the search for a more Just City is countering
the atomist or contributionist views of those who question the need for redistribu-
tive policies, or at least reducing the dominance of this value in policies (Taylor
1991 ). This is not to deny that some element of return to individuals is justified
on the basis of personal contribution. After all, if this is removed, much of the
initiative for new ideas and applications in our essentially capitalist society is lost,
to the detriment of progress. Rather it must be emphasized that any personal con-
tributions must be set within the context of society as a whole, for many of its
features—whether education, policing or good transportation—provide the back-
ground, support and even protection for individuals. In the words of the eminent
philosopher Charles Taylor ( 1986 , p. 60): “society is valuable as a collaborative
enterprise whereby the contribution of each can be multiplied through coordinated
activity”. He further argued that the aims of our association in society should not
only be for personal instrumental reasons, using the various organizations and ser-
vices solely for our own advantage. Instead, we should accept that our associations
with people of different skills allow us to be more productive, if only because we
cannot do everything for ourselves and have to depend on others for certain goods
and services—an obvious situation in the specializations that operate in any work-
place. Indeed, the contributions that people make do not only depend on their own
actions. In contemporary society many jobs involve years of education or training,
which are frequently heavily subsidized by state contributions to educational insti-
tutions. In addition, the goods or services that many individuals produce can only
operate in a larger institution where people depend on each other. For example,
in safe and well equipped hospital buildings, cleaning staff, administrators, nurses
and many skilled technicians are needed before surgeons can operate. Also, many
of the skills for which some individuals wish to take sole credit, are only useful in
certain types of society. For example, a mathematician is more valued and creative
in a computer-based society than in a traditional rural society. Moreover, many of us
live in societies in which valued qualities, ranging from personal liberties, the rule
of law, respect for others, and certain cultural practices, have developed to protect
and enhance our lives, with various organizations, not simply police, providing the
services that guarantee these features.
Finally, it is argued that it is not enough to consider these practices and institu-
tions as protecting our liberties and our ability to carry on our lives without retribu-
tion; we also need those that “sustain a sense of liberty” (Taylor 1986 , p. 60). By
this Taylor means we need to pass on the goods that we have received to future