Thompson et al. theorize that any society consisting of only one perspective, be it egalitarianism, hierarchies, individualist, fatalist or autonomists will be inherently unstable as the claim is that an interplay between all these perspectives are required if each perspective is to be fulfilling. Although an individualist according to cultural theory is aversive towards both principles and groups, individualism is not fulfilling if individual brilliance cannot be recognized by groups, or if individual brilliance cannot be made permanent in the form of principles. Accordingly, they argue that egalitarians have no power except through their presence, unless they (by definition, reluctantly) embrace principles which enable them to cooperate with fatalists and hierarchies. They argue that this means they will also have no individual sense of direction without a group, which could be mitigated by following individuals outside their group, namely autonomists or individualists. Alexander Berkman suggests that "equality does not mean an equal amount but equal opportunity. ... Do not make the mistake of identifying equality in liberty with the forced equality of the convict camp. True anarchist equality implies freedom, not quantity. It does not mean that everyone must eat, drink, or wear the same things, do the same work, or live in the same manner. Far from it: the very reverse. ... Individual needs and tastes differ, as appetites differ. It is an equal opportunity to satisfy them that constitutes true equality. ... Far from leveling, such equality opens the door for the greatest possible variety of activity and development. For human character is diverse."

The cultural theory of risk holds egalitarianism—with fatalism termed as its opposite —as defined by a negative attitude towards rules and principles; and a positive attitude towards group decision-making. The theory distinguishes between hierarchists, who are positive towards both rules and groups; and egalitarians, who are positive towards groups, but negative towards rules. This is by definition a form of anarchist equality as referred to by Berkman. Thus, the fabric of an egalitarian society is held together by cooperation and implicit peer pressure rather than by explicit rules and punishment.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels believed that an international proletarian revolution would bring about a socialist society which would then eventually give way to a communist stage of social development which would be a classless, stateless, moneyless, humane society erected on common ownership of the means of production and the principle of "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs". Marxism rejected egalitarianism in the sense of greater equality between classes, clearly distinguishing it from the socialist notion of the abolition of classes based on the division between workers and owners of productive property.

Allen Woods finds that Marx's view of classlessness was not the subordination of society to a universal interest such as a universal notion of equality, but it was about the creation of the conditions that would enable individuals to pursue their true interests and desires, making Marx's notion of communist society radically individualistic. Although his position is often confused or conflated with distributive egalitarianism in which only the goods and services resulting from production are distributed according to notional equality, Marx eschewed the entire concept of equality as abstract and bourgeois, preferring to focus on more concrete principles such as opposition to exploitation on materialist grounds and economic logic.

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• "All men are created equal"
• Animal rights
• Asset-based egalitarianism
• Citizen's dividend
• Consociationalism
• Deep ecology
• Discrimination
• Economic inequality
• Egalitarian social choice rule
• Equal consideration of interests
• Equal opportunity
• Equality of outcome
• Feminism
• Gift economy
• Inequity aversion
• Left-wing politics
• Legal status of transgender people
• LGBT rights by country or territory
• Men's rights movement
• Men's liberation movement
• Meritocracy
• Mutualism
• Natural rights and legal rights
• Political egalitarianism
• One man, one vote
• Reciprocal altruism
• Redistributive justice
• Same-sex marriage
• Social dividend
• Transfeminism
• Universal basic income

• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Lepowsky, Maria (1993). Fruit of the Motherland: Gender in an Egalitarian Society. New York: Columbia University Press. Archived from the original on 25 December 2007.
• "The Equality Studies Centre".
• "Twin Oaks Intentional Community".
• "Federation of Egalitarian Communities".