Justice and the Politics of Difference - (Princeton Classics) by Iris Marion Young (Paperback)

About the Book

"In this classic work of feminist political thought, Iris Marion Young challenges the prevailing reduction of social justice to distributive justice. The starting point for her critique is the experience and concerns of the new social movements that were created by marginal and excluded groups, including women, African Americans, and American Indians, as well as gays and lesbians. Young argues that by assuming a homogeneous public, democratic theorists fail to consider institutional arrangements for including people not culturally identified with white European male norms. Consequently, theorists do not adequately address the problems of an inclusive participatory framework. Basing her vision of the good society on the culturally plural networks of contemporary urban life, Young makes the case that normative theory and public policy should undermine group-based oppression by affirming rather than suppressing social group differences"--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

A landmark work of political theory on the central importance of group identity and cultural pluralism in political life

Justice and the Politics of Difference challenges the prevailing reduction of social justice to distributive justice, critically analyzing basic concepts underlying most theories of justice such as impartiality, formal equality, and the unitary moral subjectivity. Drawing on the experiences and concerns of social movements created by marginalized and excluded groups, Iris Marion Young shows how democratic theorists fail to consider institutional arrangements for including people not culturally identified with white European male norms of reason and respectability. Basing her vision of the good society on the differentiated, culturally plural network of contemporary urban life, she argues for a principle of group representation in democratic publics and for group-differentiated policies. Danielle Allen's incisive foreword contextualizes Young's work and explains how debates surrounding social justice have changed since--and been transformed by--the original publication of the book.

Review Quotes

"This is a superb book which opens up many new vistas for theorists of justice. Young makes a number of insightful arguments both about the issues that need to be addressed by a theory of justice, and about the kind of theory capable of addressing them."---Will Kymlicka, Canadian Philosophical Reviews

"Winner of the 1991 Victoria Schuck Award, American Political Science Association"

"With remarkable precision and clarity, Young constructs a 'pluralized' account of oppression, aiming to describe all the groups and all the ways they are oppressed."-- "Signs"

"Young has written an extremely important book, articulating a position which challenges theorists of justice from Plato to Rawls."---Andrew Murphy, Journal of Politics

About the Author

Iris Marion Young (1949-2006) was professor of political science at the University of Chicago. Her books include On Female Body Experience, Inclusion and Democracy, and Intersecting Voices (Princeton). Danielle Allen is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University.