The word "equity" comes from the Latin word aequitatem, a word that means "equal, just, even." On the other hand, the word justice seems to have a much broader origin, coming from the Latin word justitia, meaning righteousness or equity. I think the root of this semantic argument lies in the second definition and the idea of righteousness which has taken on far greater importance than the equality part of the definition. The earliest adopted English usage of the word justice referred to "the exercise of authority in vindication of right by assigning reward or punishment" and this seems to be the prevailing use of the term in today's society. Nobody would dare suggest that a just society is one that is equal throughout. In fact, I would go so far as to argue that most people in today's society would argue the opposite, namely that "you get what you deserve." It's this rather patronizing world view, in which everybody has opinions about reward and punishment for everyone else that has shaped the world we inhabit.

In other news, just finished reading Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America, a book by Barbara Ehrenreich that made a big splash last year. For those of you unfamiliar with the book, Ehrenreich is a writer who decided to take several months off to work undercover as a low income worker to try and get an idea for whether it is possible to subsist on minimum wage level earnings. The book itself is revealing as it offers an all too rare glimpse into the world of poverty, a world which surrounds us all on a daily basis but is ignored by most. The writing though, does start to drag in the second half of the book, but it's still worth reading for all those Wal-Mart haters out there.