Liberalism for All — Is Social Justice a Mirage?

On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, we conclude our summer series of the podcast on Liberalism for All, hosted by Jayme Lemke as she explores the underpinnings and outworkings of a free and open society. Driving the discussion is a set of core questions, including:

• What does it mean to be liberal in the 21st century?
• What is the relationship between liberalism and equality?
• Is the pursuit of equality a threat or opportunity for the liberal project?

Joining Lemke for this episode is Stefanie Haeffele, Senior Program and Operations Director of Mercatus Academic & Student Programs and Senior Fellow with the F. A. Hayek Program. Lemke and Haeffele begin their conversation by considering how social justice is often thought of in modern terms before examining why Hayek saw a tension between liberalism and the pursuit of social justice. Haeffele then offers her thoughts on the tradeoff between liberty and social justice before moving the conversation to a discussion regarding the analogy of institutional environments as games. Additionally, the pair consider some of the challenges, stemming from political capitalism and biased referees, of looking to public policy to remedy social injustices.