Author Archives: Joel R. Pruce

About Joel R. Pruce

is Assistant Professor of Human Rights Studies in the Department of Political Science at the University of Dayton

Floors, Ceilings, and Beams: What’s Missing in Moyn’s Account of Inequality

At the heart of his provocative essay, Samuel Moyn highlights the shortcomings of the human rights framework to confront socioeconomic inequality. His central argument asserts that human rights norms articulate the minimal obligations of states to protect the poor but say nothing about the excesses of wealth, therefore accommodating a neoliberal ideology that fundamentally threatens human dignity. In my view, Moyn produces a brief but inadequate description of human rights provisions for social welfare (floors), overlooks some recent attempts at placing limits on accumulation (ceilings), Continue reading →