Injustice, Difference & Responsibility
Instructor: Carina Fourie
Class Discussion (Zoom): Th 3.30-5.20.pm PST
Office hours (Zoom): TTH 11am-12pm or by appointment
In this graduate seminar, using the work of Iris Marion Young as a basis, we will investigate structural injustice and its manifestations in the forms of oppression and domination, and assess how they problematize welfare capitalism, impartiality, meritocracy, and dominant notions of moral responsibility, blame and guilt. We will be reading two books by Young – Justice and the Politics of Difference (2011 [1990]), and Responsibility for Justice (2011). Young’s work provides an important corrective to ideal political philosophy and standard theories of distributive justice, and has been influential in its characterization of oppression, deliberative democracy, group-differentiated policies, and the social connection model of responsibility for structural injustice. We will analyze and critically assess her claims, and view them in the light of secondary literature on recognition, racial injustice and global structural injustice, among other topics.
For the access to the full syllabus, click here.