Equality

For a Canadian in 2005, one of the most notable aspects of Raymond Williams's discussion of equality is that he perceives the word to be used only in relation to individuals. Davey points out that in his analysis, Williams distinguishes between an understanding of equality as normative, in which "newly created" inequalities are to be redressed, and an understanding of it as a starting point, in which individuals ideally begin life with equal opportunities to display and exercise their particular abilities. An aspect of Williams's keywords that is often lost in when debating social questions such as the foregoing is that a word such as equality is for him an evolving concept and practice rather than an ideal.