Even the willingness to make an effort, to try, and so to be deserving in the ordinary sense is itself dependent upon happy family and social circumstances. “ The extent to which natural capacities develop and reach fruition is affected by all kinds of social conditions and class attitudes.The idea of rewarding desert is impracticable.” The better endowed are more likely, other things equal, to strive conscientiously, and there seems to be no way to discount for their greater good fortune. “It seems clear that the effort a person is willing to make is influenced by his natural abilities and skills and the alternatives open to him.The notion of desert does not apply here.” “That we deserve the superior character that enables us to make the effort to cultivate our abilities is also problematic for such character depends in good part upon fortunate family and social circumstances in early life for which we can claim no credit.“ The initial endowment of natural assets and the contingencies of their growth and nurture in early life are arbitrary from a moral point of view.”.
“ We do not deserve our place in the distribution of native endowments, any more than we deserve our initial starting place in society.” Not only are they pervasive, but they affect men’s initial chances in life yet they cannot possibly be justified by an appeal to the notions of merit or desert.” In this way the institutions of society favor certain starting places over others. “The intuitive notion here is that this structure contains various social positions and that men born into different positions have different expectations of life determined, in part, by the political system as well as by economic and social circumstances.But there is no necessity for men to resign themselves to these contingencies.” The basic structure of these societies incorporates the arbitrariness found in nature. Aristocratic and caste societies are unjust because they make these contingencies the ascriptive basis for belonging to more or less enclosed and privileged social classes. What is just and unjust is the way that institutions deal with these facts.
“ The primary subject of justice is the basic structure of society.“ Each person finds himself placed at birth in some particular position in some particular society, and the nature of this position materially affects his life prospects.”
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