  For purposes of examining the relationship between requirements on individuals and requirements on institutions in a theory of justice, I shall simplify Rawls's theory and suppose it simply mandates that the basic structure institutions should be arranged so that the primary social good holdings of the worst off sector of society are maximized. (As is well known, Rawls's theory also includes a principle of equal liberty that mandates that a fully adequate scheme of civil and political liberties be secured for all and a principle of fair equality of opportunity that requires that inequalities in primary social good holdings be attached to positions and offices open to all in such a way that those with equal ambition and equal native talent have equal chances of being competitively successful. These principles take lexical priority over the difference principle [Rawls 1999, chapters 2–4]).