This study by Pierre Rosanvallon, a well-known French historian, is dedicated to the evolution of ‘social justice’ concept in European thought. The author considers various concepts of social progress, believing that nowadays the simplistic identification of progress as the reduction of social inequality has lost its relevance. In his opinion, the state of universal compensation has exhausted itself, and the limitless expansion of the right to ‘be in tow’ is no longer progressive. ‘Only by redefining the essence of the reformism idea ,’ Rosanvallon argues, ‘can the conditions for a renewed practice of solidarity principle be created. The importance of this work is particularly great for leftist powers.’