In The Quest for Cosmic Justice, Stanford University economist Thomas Sowell demonstrates how left-wing ideas of social justice and social equality inevitably wind up doing the exact opposite of what leftists and liberals intend: they create injustice and inequality. While pursuing the noble goals of eradicating racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, homophobia, and classism, the left has no problem sacrificing the rights and freedoms of people whose only mistake is to belong to the wrong race, sex, ethnic group, sexual orientation, or social class.

Sowell, a critic of the erosion of personal rights and freedoms due to government encroachment, gives the theoretical reasons for the failure of social justice (which Sowell terms “cosmic justice”), a concept based essentially on the idea that every group in society should be equal to every other group in terms of its conditions (material wealth, social status, life expectancy, et cetera). Wherever such equality of conditions does not exist—in other words, everywhere—the fallback assumption made by proponents of social justice is that some sort of oppression by another group caused it to be that way. Thus, if gay people as a group don’t live as long as straight people, it can’t be because many gays practice an unhealthy lifestyle that leads to AIDS, it must be due to a health care system that “doesn’t care” about gays. If Puerto Ricans have a higher rate of poverty than Asian Americans, it can’t be because of a failure on the part of some Puerto Rican individuals to develop their skills so they can be rewarded for productive work, it’s because the “system” oppresses Puerto Ricans.

Advocates of social justice inevitably discover that the freedoms and rights currently protected for Americans under the Constitution are an obstacle to their utopian dreams.

Sowell exposes the historical evils of left/liberal attempts to produce group equality of conditions rather than the equality of opportunity guaranteed under traditional justice. From the Soviets who demonized the productive middle classes as the oppressors of the proletarian mass, to the German National Socialists whose hateful envy of Jewish wealth contributed to the Holocaust, these attempts have always depended on a devil group to blame for social inequalities, and have always undermined—sometimes catastrophically—the productive forces in society.

Sowell compares social justice to the traditional concept of justice—equality before the rule of law—where individual persons seek recompense for individual wrongs. He shows how the traditional idea of justice has worked for humanity in general and for modern American society especially. Traditional justice works, Sowell argues, because the average, reasonable person knows how to treat others with the respect he wants in return. Common human needs determine common legal remedies. However, in the quest for social justice, the outcome is left not to an established system of blind rules and procedures, but to the subjective opinions of people with an axe to grind.

Under traditional justice, an individual or group of individuals who suffers unlawful discrimination would have their day in court against the entity responsible for the mistreatment (e.g., a corporation, government agency, landlord, et cetera). But under social justice, the group, not the individual, is the focus of action. If Blacks as a group have been the victims of discrimination, then Whites, as a group, have been the perpetrators.

As an example of social justice in action, Sowell considers the policy of racial preferences. In the not-so-distant past, Blacks and other minorities were legally discriminated against in the United States. The social justice remedy for historical discrimination against Blacks has been to impose affirmative action plans that discriminate against Whites and Asians who have neither personally discriminated against Black people nor benefited from such discrimination. Often these remedies don’t even work for their intended beneficiaries: minority students admitted to top colleges under affirmative action often can’t compete academically and may be forced to drop out. When these failures of so-called “retention” occur, the immediate reaction of the social justice establishment is to blame subtle racism or a hostile and uncaring campus environment. The supreme irony here is that college campuses are the citadel of social justice advocates, filled as they are with liberal professors and administrators.

Sowell shows how the negative results of such policies are not simply American phenomena. They occur across the world wherever group rights are set up: social justice discriminates against people who have not personally harmed anyone and it fails to achieve the goal of righting historical wrongs. The leftists’ quest for social justice stumbles around in the dark, injuring both innocent “oppressors” and the disenfranchised “oppressed” in ways that are complex and theoretically impossible to predict.

Advocates of social justice inevitably discover that the freedoms and rights currently protected for Americans under the Constitution are an obstacle to their utopian dreams. The democratic vision of America is that the people possess the ultimate veto power over any other vision for society. But social justice visionaries have tried to avoid the veto power of the American people whenever possible. Rather than appealing to elected officials, liberals attempt to circumvent the legitimate legislative process by having politically sympathetic judges decide controversial cases in their favor. Making law using the judicial system—the most undemocratic wing of the government—has been their favorite strategy.

Sowell shows that in the end, advocates of social justice inevitably violate traditional justice. As a concept in action, social justice deprives individuals of their rights and freedoms. While the stated goals of social justice are laudable, its actual results are always disappointing. The only equality and justice a democracy can ensure is equality and justice under the law.

This book is reassuring for conservatives and eye-opening to liberals. Its publication comes at an opportune time, as a major reconsideration of policies and programs based on the social justice view is underway in this country. The Quest for Cosmic Justice is meant as an appeal to the common sense of traditional justice found in the U.S. Constitution and rooted in the human heart. It deserves to be read.

Peter Russo is a 2000 graduate of the University. In the fall, he begins doctoral studies in physics at Columbia.