In contrast to rights, which are (at least in theory) absolute, standards are relative and variable, and so enable flexibility and compromise. To speak of 'better standards' is to eschew absolutes. … In emphasising minimum standards, the US delegation sought to detach social and economic rights from egalitarianism, reconciling them with a privatised and consumerist conception of welfare.

Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, loc. 191