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Responsibility for Justice (Oxford Political Philosophy) Reprint Edition, Kindle Edition

by Iris Marion Young (Author), Martha Nussbaum (Foreword, Contributor) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 47 ratings
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When the noted political philosopher Iris Marion Young died in 2006, her death was mourned as the passing of "one of the most important political philosophers of the past quarter-century" (Cass Sunstein) and as an important and innovative thinker working at the conjunction of a number of important topics: global justice; democracy and difference; continental political theory; ethics and international affairs; and gender, race and public policy.

In her long-awaited Responsibility for Justice, Young discusses our responsibilities to address "structural" injustices in which we among many are implicated (but for which we not to blame), often by virtue of participating in a market, such as buying goods produced in sweatshops, or participating in booming housing markets that leave many homeless. Young argues that addressing these structural injustices requires a new model of responsibility, which she calls the "social connection" model. She develops this idea by clarifying the nature of structural injustice; developing the notion of political responsibility for injustice and how it differs from older ideas of blame and guilt; and finally how we can then use this model to describe our responsibilities to others no matter who we are and where we live.

With a foreward by Martha C. Nussbaum, this last statement by a revered and highly influential thinker will be of great interest to political theorists and philosophers, ethicists, and feminist and political philosophers.
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  1. ISBN-13
    978-0199970957
  2. Edition
    Reprint
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  5. Publication date
    January 19, 2011
  6. Part of series
    OXFORD POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
  7. Language
    English
  8. File size
    876 KB
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Carefully distinguishing between "blaming" from responsible accountability, [Young] challenges assumption while eliciting a suggestive framework for her successors to further develop a model based on social connections, domestic as well as cross-border responsibilities as they touch on global poverty and need." --Health and Human Rights

"[The book] is both very distinctively the work of Iris Marion Young in its topic, style of argument and presentation, but it also makes a number of important contributions to contemporary political philosophy, through trying to work out a 'social connection' theory of responsibility. It is particularly impressive in the open way it draws on sources -- equally at home discussing Derrida, Sartre and Levinas, as contemporary analytic philosophers such as G.A. Cohen, Alan Buchanan and Robert Goodin.'--Jonathan Wolff, University College London

"Iris Marion Young's death in 2006 was a tragic loss for the field of political theory, and this manuscript is evidence of how much she had yet to contribute. Like all her work, it addresses issues of enormous philosophical and political importance, and does so in a way that is original and insightful. It integrates a rich array of examples, concepts, theories and resources, from empirical social science to continental philosophy, and does so in a way that is seamless and effortless... it's an important manuscript and a fitting testament to Young's career."--Will Kymlicka, Queens University

About the Author

Iris Marion Young [deceased] was Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago. She is the author of Inclusion and Democracy and On Female Body Experience.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0053O7X9Y
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Reprint edition (January 19, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 19, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 876 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 47 ratings

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  1. Martha C. Nussbaum

    Martha C. Nussbaum

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    Martha C. Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, appointed in the Law School and Philosophy Department. She has received honorary degrees from sixty-four colleges and universities in the US, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. Among her awards are the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy (2016), the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture (2018), and the Holberg Prize (2021).

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  2. Iris Marion Young

    Iris Marion Young

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
47 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

WILLIAM H. MCINTYRE
5.0 out of 5 stars Context and Human Agency
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2012
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To be brief, Young presents a searching discourse exposing the fractured and perhaps irrational thinking of liberal political philosophy. Examining the theories of luck and responsibility young levels the charge of ignoring context and background in individual lives leading to injustice as a structural component of political policy. Well written and an easy read while tackling difficult ideas of justice.
5 people found this helpful
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Ken E Salo
4.0 out of 5 stars Social connections model for historical injustices
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2013
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Vintage

Brilliant explanation why a social connections approach rather than an individualistic liability model is a better basis for claims demanding responsibility from the beneficiaries of historical and structural injustices such as slavery and racism. Vintage Iris Young
4 people found this helpful
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maria teresa la valle
5.0 out of 5 stars Social connection model
Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2015
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Iris Young offers a very sound and well grounded perspective of responsibility within the social connection model she develops in detail. Crucial reading at this time and place.
One person found this helpful
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Kelly
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2015
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Great condition
One person found this helpful
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kyle
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2017
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A compelling case for social and civic responsibility of the individual.
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Trenecsia Wilson
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2016
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Everything I expected.
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Matt Mitterko
4.0 out of 5 stars Why structural injustices matter to you
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2011
Iris Young's Responsibility for Justice is a challenging book to review for several reasons. For one, the book is ambitious, and tries to tie together significantly diverse work to establish an account of how to account for structural injustices, by determining what individuals are responsible for, to create a more just society.

And two, the book stands as a mostly formed work of Young's, but is not complete. Since Iris Young passed away before final revisions could be completed, the editor decided to leave the manuscript, as Young wrote it, as the definitive version. There were small efforts to smooth over the text, based on some of Young's notes, but overall the book probably would have been more polished, had Young had the chance. So it is with this in mind that the reader should approach the book with some charity.

To summarize Young's argument very briefly, she makes a case for an account of responsibility that takes into account structural injustices that don't have anyone or any institution to blame or assign guilt as the primary cause of the wrong. She claims that it's wrong to look at personal responsibility in an atomistic way, that precludes people from being assigned responsibility for things that are not directly caused by them. Since our positions in society as well as our social structures contribute to such wrongs, we need to have an account of responsibility for justice that evaluates individuals, institutions and our social structures, because we can't separate our social structures from our institutions.

This needn't require us to assign guilt to persons however, as Young claims that we need to separate the concepts of guilt and responsibility to highlight how one can be responsible for wrongs without being guilty. For her, we cannot rely on an assessment of who is strictly liable or complicit in structural wrongs to assign responsibility for them. Rather, she seeks acknowledgment of the contributions that many make to wrongs that are commonplace in society, but are no direct fault of any one person or institution. To this end, her account of responsibility extends beyond a nation's borders, as our interconnectedness with others through international institutions and practices requires that we aim to reduce injustices that are maintained by power and privilege.

Finally, she rebuts objections to her account that focus on its demandingness on individual actors. Our role in structural injustices demonstrate that we are responsible, and therefore must act to lessen these injustices, no matter how unchanging, permanent or distant they may seem. She also claims that we cannot rely on backward-looking policy to correct the injustices that persist from historical wrongs, and we must try to acknowledge the past in implementing forward-looking policy that remedies long standing structural injustices.

On the whole, I'd say the book is worth reading for those who are sympathetic to Young's earlier work on social processes, but looking for its expansion into a more complete theory of justice. The breadth she covers in the book is missing from my summary but is very impressive, particularly as she navigates across numerous debates in political philosophy (e.g. the atomistic focus of conservative thinkers and luck egalitarians in determining responsibility for one's state of affairs; whether the basic structure is the only subject of justice; how guilt differs in kind from responsibility based on the work of Hannah Arendt, and how national borders do not capture all of our responsibilities as members of a global interconnected system). The main problem with the book, aside from not having Young's polished revisions, is that it is dense enough to obscure the book's virtues.
9 people found this helpful
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Terry Trowbridge
5.0 out of 5 stars social justice essentials
Reviewed in Canada on June 15, 2016
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Iris Marion Young is one of the best social justice theorists the USA ahs ever produced, and this book is one reason why. Her ideas apply to a Canadian context too, which is a rare find indeed.

If you are a legal scholar, this book does something necessary but often overlooked. It presents problems of social justice and that are not justiciable in the terms of doctrinal law. This book helps to separate responsibility from culpability and liability. Our conversations, especially in critical legal studies, could improve by using Young to keep our bearings regarding what is currently considered doctrinally justiciable and what is currently a separate domain for activism.
2 people found this helpful
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Steven Labrecque
5.0 out of 5 stars Qualité impeccable
Reviewed in Canada on August 5, 2019
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Livré dans les temps et qualité impeccable!
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