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CIAO DATE: 03/02
Critical Review
Hayek's Attack on Social Justice
By David Johnston
Abstract
Hayek assailed the idea of social justice by arguing that any effort to realize it would tranform society into an oppressive organization, stifling liberty. Hayek's view is marred by two omissions. First, he fails to consider that the goal of social justice, like the goal of wealth generation, might be promoted by strategies of indirection that do not entail oppressive organization. Second, he underestimates the tendency of the market order itself to generate oppressive organization, and consequently sees advantages in market order that it may not possess.