As far as I remember it, it doesn’t actually make that strong a case that rich egalitarians ought to redistribute most of their wealth. (I actually think that most of what I got from that book was reflecting on some weird parallels between Marxism and AI risk thought, and the role of philosophers in both.) But it at least raises and somewhat discusses the question, and it’s by one of the main ‘analytical Marxists’ and so might have more initial credibility to leftists.
I have read the paper, not the book! And have tried to get friends to read it, though unfortunately I don’t think it was necessarily very effective either. I did end up writing an op-ed (Reparation, not just Charity) once trying to motivate wealthy students to redistribute more of their wealth, and it received a lot of likes on social media, but I’m not sure that it led to meaningful behavioral change :/ I think behavioral changes and commitments just take a lot more work, and a supportive community to encourage it.
That’s really interesting, thanks for sharing your experience with these efforts.
Only partly on-topic, but I’m wondering if Jerry Cohen’s If You’re an Egalitarian, How Come You’re so Rich? may be a good book for such audiences.
As far as I remember it, it doesn’t actually make that strong a case that rich egalitarians ought to redistribute most of their wealth. (I actually think that most of what I got from that book was reflecting on some weird parallels between Marxism and AI risk thought, and the role of philosophers in both.) But it at least raises and somewhat discusses the question, and it’s by one of the main ‘analytical Marxists’ and so might have more initial credibility to leftists.
I have read the paper, not the book! And have tried to get friends to read it, though unfortunately I don’t think it was necessarily very effective either. I did end up writing an op-ed (Reparation, not just Charity) once trying to motivate wealthy students to redistribute more of their wealth, and it received a lot of likes on social media, but I’m not sure that it led to meaningful behavioral change :/ I think behavioral changes and commitments just take a lot more work, and a supportive community to encourage it.