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twenty-four

J USTICE AS

MEMBERSHIP

Thee ae some ngs money cant buy and oter tngs t tres to

buy bu soudneecons for exame, o in an eaer day savation But te sale of elections ike te sale of ndulences usu-

ally bngs a deand for reform Wat s wong wit buying tese

things? And wee else soud money's wrt not rule? How the good

tngs n ife shoud be dstrbuted s the subject of Micael Walzers

boo Spheres of justice, which oes an magnatve alteative to te

ongoing debate ove dstrbutve ustce

Te debate s typcay caied on beeen libetaians on te one

and and egaltaans on te ote Lbetaians argue at money

te medum of fee ecange soud buy wateve toe wo pos-

sess t want; people sould be fee to use the money as ey choose

Egltarans epy tat money coud be a far nstument of dstrbu

tion ony f everyone ad te same amount So ong as some ave

more and othes less some w dl fom strengt oters fromweaness and te socaed fee maret can adly be fai But ct-

cs of the egaltaan aproac espond tat even f a weat were

equally dstributed the equalty would end when te deng began.

Those favorably endowed by fotune or crcumstance woud do well;

those ess favoaby endowed ess wel So ong as people ave dffe-

ent abtes and desies the egn of erfect equality can never last forong

Waze escues te case for equalty fom its ctcs and defendes

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b siig gro o the libertariaegaltarian debate

The key to is soluton is to worry less about te distribution o

moey ad more about limitng the things tat money can by. Tis

is the poit o talking about speres o justce H maitains that di-

ernt gods ccup dierent spheres, wic ar properly govered

y dre prncpese o the neey, hoors o he desevig, politcal power to te persuasve, oces to the quaied, luxries

to those abl and wlng to pay or them, dvin grace to the pus,

ad so on

For Walzer, the injustice o uequal wealth ies ot i the yachts

a gormet dners tat money commads bt in money's power

to domnate spres wer does o beong, as n t bs po-litical ience. And we moey may be te worst oender, it is

ot te onl crrcy tat wrongl ruls beyo ts own sper. For

example, we an oce is obtaied by knship instad o abilty, that

is epotism Nepotism ad bribr are easy to condemn becaus t

result in goods beig dstribtd by pricipes ale to teir spheres

But as azer acowdges, te dea of seres, ken aon

does not tell us ow to distrbute tis or tat good. Most o or po

litical argments arise over precisely what goods belong to wat

spheres at sort o goods, or example, are alth care ad ous

ng an edcation? Should e rgard tem as basic eeds to be pub

licly provided as requird or as goods and services to be sold in t

market? Or, to tae a dierent sort of xampe, n wa spere does

sex belong? Sould sexual plasre be distributd" only on the basiso love and commitmt or also in excage or cash or otr goods?

Wer we are debating t welar state r sexal mores, w

eed some way o decidig wic gods t wic distrbutv princi

ples On way o ciding, perhaps te most amiliar way, is to try to

denti certain unversal tural or human rigts and to deduc

rom tese whatever particular rights may ollowthe rght to osing or lth care or the right to egage in prstitutio as te cas

may be

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Walzer reects the appea to rights nd adopts in its plce con-

ception of membership in a commnity concetion tht poses

powerl challenge to potcal theories tht pt ghts rst For hm

distribtive jstce must begin with sch membership becse we re

all members of politicl communities before we are bearers of rights.

Whether we have right to prtcar good deends on the rolethat good plays in or commna life nd on ts mportance to s as

members

Walzer ilstrtes this point with n rgment for greter pblc

provision of medical cre, n rgment tht ppels not to univer

sal right to treatment but instead to the character of contemporary

Aercan life and the shred nderstndings that dene it. Wht thecare of sols meant to the medieval Christans he arges the cre of

bodies mens to s. For them eternity ws a socially recognized

needhence a chrch in every pash regular services ctechism

for the young, complsor communion, nd so on For s a long

nd helth life s a sociy recognzed needhence doctors n

hospitals in every district, regular checkps helth edction for the

yong, compsory vccintion, and so on Medical care becomes

matter of membership in the society. To be cut o from it is not

oly dngeros but degrding a knd of excommnication

In Walzer's conception then the cse for eqlity s tied to the

cse for membershi. Dfferent commnites invest dierent goods

with dierent meanings nd vles which give rise in trn to dier

ent nderstandings of membership For eample Walzer reminds stht in dierent times and paces bread has been "the st of life the

body of Christ, the smbol of the Sbbth the mens of hospitality

nd so on Wht mtters s that ech commnty be faith to its

shared understndngs nd open to political debte abot wht those

nderstandings reqire.

This is hmne nd hopef vision nd Waler conveys it wth wry and gentle grce. His book is lced with specc llstrtions

nd historcl examples designed to bring ot or own nderstnd

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ig o soca goodso oces ad onors, secut and welare,

wo and leisure, schooling and datg, property and poweren

b contast wit oter cutues and traditios f is approac s at

tmes more evocatve tan systematc, ths is in keepig wth s pur

poseto esist te univesazing impulse of philosopy, to am

the ric particuat o our moral ves.Some ma take issue wt tis purpose o the grounds tat t s

essentialy conservatve and uncrtca. ocetes al o te sred

understadngs o eir members do not mae for just societis, t

may be said on consistent ones. f the notion o justce s to ave

an crtca force, one ca ter argue, it must e based on ta

dads independet of an particular socet; oterwise justce i leostage to the very values t must judge. Walze someties sems

vueable to tis chaenge, as we he doubts ta we ca ever

judge te meaings o commutes oter tan our own.

But I don't tink hs puralism reques that kind o moa rea-

tivism Walzers relativist voice s tension wi a moe armtive

voce that gives is case ts moral orce mpcit in is argumen s a

particular viso o community, the ind tat cultivates te comon

lie we share as membe

One expresso o te nd o communiy Walze has n mid is

te pubc oliday, an isttuton tat e cotrasts wit te moder

vacation. Wereas vacations are prvate occasions ree of oliga-

tions a time to "go away rom ou usual place, hodays are pbic

occasons (sometimes egious, sometimes civic), ta we ceeratetogeter In ou ow te tose holdas tat survive are inceas

ingly attaced to long weeeds, to our private vacations

He uses te stor o te word vacation to sow how r we

ave come om te communa fe: "In Ancient Rome, te days o

whch tere were no egous estivals o public games wee caled

des vacates, empt days' Te odas, by contrast, wee ullllo obligato but also o celebation, ull o tgs to do, eastin ad

dacg, rituals and pas. Tis was whe tme ripened to produce

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the soc goods o shed solenity nd revery Who would give up

dys le tt? But we hve ost tht sese o lness; nd he dys we

cve re the epy oes wch we cn l by ourseves s we plese

Thoug Wze leves itte doub whc om o rest mkes or

e che comon e he cocludes noneheless ( s etvis

voce) h jusce doesn't choose bewee holdys nd vctons busmply equies publc suppo o whichever orm ppes to pre

v s s odds wth the deeper suggeston pct n hs c

cout tht communy ht vues vctos over oldys not only

cks ce ness but is unlkely o sustn the sense o beog-

g ecessry he commuty s to provde or suc odys

I s oe thng to epect commuty to shre the exeses opuc ceebtos d othe to den tt subsdie privte

vcos e ecipse o hodys y vctons suggess he wee

ng o those ol es tht ny cse or publc povson mus pre

suppose. hs sees to e e lge foce o Wers clm. Whee

justce begns wth mebeship, t cnnot e cocened wth dst

uo oe; t must also ed to the ora codos tt cuti

vte mebesp

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