Justice Without Bondage

The Reith Lectures: Archive 1948-1975

Professor of Sociology and Director of the London School of Economics Ralf Dahrendorf gives his third Reith lecture from his series entitled 'The New Liberty'.

In this lecture entitled 'Justice Without Bondage', Professor Dahrendorf evaluates how liberty has been misinterpreted as equality and justice. He claims that advanced demographic societies are bound by a fear of political correctness. In this age, which he describes as 'the alienation of the enlightened progress', he argues that we have become the prisoners of our own good purpose. Society has taken the notion of justice and replaced it with equality. He contemplates whether we can weather the storm of 'social justice' in order to progress to a 'liberal justice' system.