Oftentimes, people defend inequality, particularly economic inequality, on the basis that such inequality is justified by guaranteeing equal opportunity but not equal outcomes. However, the statement “equal opportunity doesn’t cause equal outcomes” is internally inconsistent.
Consider that opportunity is usually defined as a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something, not including chance.
In this case, if one does not achieve something, then failure was the result of chance or lack of necessary circumstances for success.
Therefore, in practice failure and consequently inequality result from the lack of opportunity (equal economic opportunity means equal chances of economic success but without failure, meaning that there is economic equality).
Also, even if one rejects the overall claim as stated in this post's title, functionally equality of opportunity must be measured at least in part by measuring equality of outcomes (e.g., the more disproportionally group A excels than group B, the more likely it is, all else being equal, that group A enjoys more opportunities than group B).
Some might respond that unequal opportunity is acceptable provided that unequal opportunity derives from particular sources, particularly differences in personalities and behaviors. Here, debates over the existence, nature, and importance of freewill come to mind. However, freewill is a topic for another post.
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