adjective / noun
egalitarian
ee-gal-ih-TAIR-ee-un/ɪɡˌælʌtˈɛriʌn/
Favoring equal rights and opportunities for all people, or a person who does so.
The egalitarian voting arrangement gives every adult the same ballot and equal access.
Etymology
French égalitaire centers on equality as a social principle. Early English uses often concerned revolutionary or communist government, connecting equality with how society distributes rights and privileges.
In context
tend to generate these group hierarchies and so there is a lot of individual variability in the degree to which people perceive these hierarchies there are people who are more egalitarian and there are people who are more hierarchical
More examples
- The organization takes an egalitarian approach to sharing power.
- As an egalitarian, he opposes special privileges based on wealth.
- Egalitarians often disagree about how best to achieve equality.
Forms
egalitarian · egalitarians
egalitarianism noun — Belief in equal rights and opportunities for everyone.
Similar words
- democratic
- Emphasizes shared participation and power rather than equality generally.
- equitable
- Emphasizes fairness in treatment or distribution, not necessarily equal shares.