LEGAL THEORY YOUNG CHAPTER 1: DISPLACING THE DISTRIBUTIVE PARADIGM & CHAPTER 2: FIVE FACES OF OPPRESSION

YOUNG: The concepts of oppression and domination, rather than the place, and which is often at least partly the cause of
concept of distribution, should be the starting point for a conception of patterns of distribution of jobs or wealth.
social justice Institutional context should be understood in a broader
o Why does Young say this? sense than "mode of production."
Philosophical theories of justice tend to restrict the It includes any structures or practices, the rules and norms
meaning of social justice to the morally proper distribution that guide them, and the language and symbols that
of benefits and burdens among societys members. mediate social interactions within them, in institutions of
It is a mistake to reduce social justice to distribution state, family, and civil society, as well as the workplace.
What is the distributive paradigm? Many discussions of social justice not only ignore the
o defines social justice as the morally proper distribution of social institutional contexts within which distributions occur, but
benefits and burdens among society's members often presuppose specific institutional structures whose
o The distributive definition of justice often includes nonmaterial social justice they fail to bring under evaluation.
goods such as rights, opportunity, power, and self-respect. What Some political theories tend to assume centralized
marks the distributive paradigm is a tendency to conceive social legislative and executive institutions separated from the
justice and distribution as coextensive concepts. day-to-day lives of most people in the society, and state
o The distributive paradigm of justice so ensnares philosophical officials with the authority to make and enforce policy
thinking that even critics of the dominant liberal framework continue decisions.
to formulate the focus of justice in exclusively distributive terms They take for granted such institutions of the modern state
o The paradigm assumes a single model for all analyses of justice: all as bureaucracies and welfare agencies for implementing
situations in which justice is at issue are analogous to the situation and enforcing tax schemes and administering services
of persons dividing a stock of goods and comparing the size of the Young focuses on three primary categories of
portions individuals have. nondistributive issues that distributive theories tend to
What does this mean? - assumes that individuals or other ignore:
agents lie as nodes, points in the social field, among whom Decisionmaking structure and procedures
larger or smaller bundles of social goods are assigned. include not only questions of who by virtue of their
Assumes a social atomism, inasmuch as there is no positions have the effective freedom or authority
internal relation among persons in society relevant to to make what sorts of decisions, but also the rules
considerations of justice. and procedures according to which decisions are
Problems with Distributive Paradigm made
o Presupposes and obscures institutional context that Division of labor
determines material distributions Can be both understood distributive and non-
Young point out that most theorizing about social justice distributive
focuses on the distribution of material resources, income, As a distributive issue: division of labor refers to
or positions of reward and prestige. how pregiven occupations, jobs, or tasks are
Debates among theorists focus on two practical issues: allocated among individuals or groups.
Is the distribution of wealth and income in advanced As a non-distributive issue: division of labor
capitalist countries just, and if not, does justice permit or concerns the definition of the occupations
even require the provision of welfare services and other themselves. Division of labor as an institutional
redistributive measures? structure involves the range of tasks performed in
Is the pattern of the distribution of positions of high income a given position, the definition of the nature,
and prestige just, and if not, are affirmative action policies meaning, and value of those tasks, and the
just means to rectify that injustice? relations of cooperation, conflict, and authority
The general criticism I am making of the predominant among positions.
focus on the distribution of wealth, income, and positions is Culture
that such a focus ignores and tends to obscure the It includes the symbols, images, meanings,
institutional context within which those distributions take habitual comportments, stories, and so on
LEGAL THEORY YOUNG CHAPTER 1: DISPLACING THE DISTRIBUTIVE PARADIGM & CHAPTER 2: FIVE FACES OF OPPRESSION
through which people express their experience Opportunity is a concept of enablement rather than
and communicate with one another. possession; it refers to doing more than having. A person
The symbolic meanings that people attach to has opportunities if he or she is not constrained from doing
other kinds of people and to actions, gestures, or things, and lives under the enabling conditions for doing
institutions often significantly affect the social them.
standing of persons and their opportunities. Being enabled or constrained refers more directly,
o Overextending the concept of distribution however, to the rules and practices that govern one's
Applying a logic of distribution to such goods produces a action, the way other people treat one in the context of
misleading conception of the issues of justice involved. specific social relations, and the broader structural
It reifies aspects of social life that are better understood as possibilities produced by the confluence of a multitude of
a function of rules and relations than as things. actions and practices.
And it conceptualizes social justice primarily in terms of It makes no sense to speak of opportunities as themselves
end-state patterns, rather than focusing on social things possessed.
processes. This distributive paradigm implies a misleading Young also provides the concept of self-respect as an
or incomplete social ontology. example. (WHY? Many of the writers of justice regard self-
Provided Rawls as an example: respect as a primary good that all persons must have in
Justice concerns the distribution of rights and order for society to be just.)
duties What can it mean to distribute self-respect?
What does distributing a right mean? Self-respect is not an entity or measurable aggregate, it
One may talk about having a right to a distributive cannot be parcelled out of some stash, and above all it
share of material things, resources, or income. cannot be detached from persons as a separable attribute
But in such cases it is the good that is distributed, adhering to an otherwise unchanged substance.
not the right. Self-respect names not some possession or attribute a
What can it mean to distribute rights that do not refer to person has, but her or his attitude toward her or his entire
resources or things, like the right of free speech, or the situation and life prospects.
right of trial by jury? (Rawls does not speak of self-respect however, he
We can conceive of a society in which some suggests that distributive arrangements provide
persons are granted these rights while others arc background conditions for self-respect)
not, but this does not mean that some people Problems with Talk of Distributing Power
have a certain "amount" or "portion of a good o why talk about this? Critics may say that what is in question is
while others have less. indeed not goods, but social power; the distributive paradigm,
Altering the situation so that everyone has these rights, however, can accommodate these issues by giving more attention
moreover, would not entail that the formerly privileged to the distribution of power.
group gives over some of its right of free speech or trial by o Young: This is another case of extending the concept of distribution
jury to the rest of society's members, on analogy with a beyond material goods.
redistribution of income. o Conceptualizing power in distributive terms means implicitly or
Rights are not fruitfully conceived as possessions. explicitly conceiving power as a kind of stuff possessed by individual
Rights arc relationships, not things; they are institutionally agents in greater or lesser amounts.
defined rules specifying what people can do in relation to o From this perspective a power structure or power relations will be
one another. described as a pattern of the distribution of this stuff.
Rights refer to doing more than having, to social o There are a number of problems with such a model of power:
relationships that enable or constrain action. First, regarding power as a possession or attribute of
Talk of distributing opportunities involves a similar individuals tends to obscure the fact that power is a
confusion. relation rather than a thing
If by opportunity we mean "chance," we can meaningfully Second, the atomistic bias of distributive paradigms of
talk of distributing opportunities, of some people having power leads to a focus on particular agents or roles that
more opportunities than others
LEGAL THEORY YOUNG CHAPTER 1: DISPLACING THE DISTRIBUTIVE PARADIGM & CHAPTER 2: FIVE FACES OF OPPRESSION
have power, and on agents over whom these powerful Many people would not use the term oppression to describe injustice in our
agents or roles have power. society because they do not understand the term in the same way as do new
o A distributive understanding of power, which treats power as some social movements
kind of stuff that can be traded, exchanged, and distributed, misses In its traditional usage, oppression means the exercise of tyranny by a ruling
the structural phenomena of domination group. Yet, oppression creates injustice in other circumstances as well.
o A distributive conceptualization of power can construct power People are not always oppressed by cruel tyrants with bad intentions. In
relations only as patterns. many cases, a well-intentioned liberal society can place system-wide
o conceptualizing power as relational rather than substantive, as constraints on groups and limit their freedom. Oppression can be the result
produced and reproduced through many people outside the of a few peoples choices or policies that cause embedded unquestioned
immediate power dyad, brings out the dynamic nature of power norms, habits, and symbols. These societal rules can become an restrictive
relations as an ongoing process. structure of forces and barriers that immobilize and reduce a group or
o Power exists only in action
category of people
The logic of distribution, in contrast, makes power a
General definition of oppression: oppression is when people reduce the
machine or instrument, held in ready and turned on at will,
potential for other people to be fully human.
independently of social processes. o In other words, oppression is when people make other people less
Defining Injustice as Domination and Oppression
human. This could mean treating them in a dehumanizing manner.
o Because distributive models of power, rights, opportunity, and
But, it could also mean denying people language, education, and
selfrespect work so badly, justice should not be conceived primarily
other opportunities that might make them become fully human in
on the model of the distribution of wealth, income, and other
both mind and body.
material goods.
o The scope of justice is wider than distributive issues.
o the connection between justice and the values that constitute the
THE FIVE FACES OF OPPRESSIONS
good life.
o Justice is not identical with the concrete realization of these values ^ is a useful set of categories and distinctions which is comprehensive, in the
in individual lives; justice, that is, is not identical with the good life as sense that it covers all the groups said by new left social movements to be
such. oppressed and all the ways they are oppressed
o Rather, social justice concerns the degree to which a society
contains and supports the institutional conditions necessary for the 1. Exploitation
realization of these values. o is the act of using peoples labors to produce profit while not
o The values comprised in the good life can be reduced to two very compensating them fairly. Although they are paid for their efforts
general ones: and toils, they are not paid a fair wage considering how much
(1) developing and exercising one's capacities and money they make for the company.
expressing one's experience Ex. People who work in sweat shops are exploited. Miners
(2) participating in determining one's action and the in Africa are also exploited when they have to rent their
conditions of one's action mining tools everyday. If these miners find nothing of value
o These are universalist values, in the sense that they assume the on any given day, then they owe for the supply rental and
equal moral worth of all persons, and thus justice requires their are not paid for their efforts.
promotion for everyone. o Exploitation uses capitalism to oppress. The economic theory of
o To these two general values correspond two social conditions that capitalism states that people are free to exchange goods freely. Yet,
define injustice: oppression, the institutional constraint on self- whenever this has happens throughout history, it has created
development, and domination, the institutional constraint on self- different classes of people: wealthy and poor. Karl Marx, the father
determination. of socialism, said that capitalism creates haves (those that have
wealth) and have-nots (those that do not have wealth). Typically in
a capitalistic society, the haves end up exploiting the have-nots
What is Oppression? for their hard work. Therefore, exploitation creates a system that
perpetuates class differences, keeping the rich richer and the poor
poorer
LEGAL THEORY YOUNG CHAPTER 1: DISPLACING THE DISTRIBUTIVE PARADIGM & CHAPTER 2: FIVE FACES OF OPPRESSION
o Many writers have cogently argued that the Marxist concept of injustices associated with powerlessness are inhibition to develop
exploitation is too narrow to encompass all forms of domination and ones capacities, lack of decision making power, and exposure to
oppression. The Marxist concept of class leaves important disrespectful treatment because of the lowered status
phenomena of sexual and racial oppression unexplained. Professionals are privileged in relation to non-
o Feminists have had little difficulty showing that women's oppression professionals, by virtue of their position in the division of
consists partly in a systematic and unreciprocated transfer of labor and the status it carries. Non-professionals suffer a
powers from women to men. Women's oppression consists not form of oppression in addition to exploitation, which Young
merely in an inequality of status, power, and wealth resulting from calls powerlessness.
men's excluding them from privileged activities. The freedom, In the U.S., the powerless do not participate in basic
power, status, and self-realization of men is possible precisely democratic processes because they feel that they cant or
because women work for them. Gender exploitation has two that their participation wont mean anything. In most cases,
aspects, transfer of the fruits of material labor to men and transfer of it means not voting or participating in any decision making
nurturing and sexual energies to men. process
C. Delphy sees marriage as a form of exploitation because
women perform tasks for someone on whom they are
dependent w/o remuneration 4. Cultural Imperialism
o To summarize, women are exploited in the Marxist sense to the o To experience cultural imperialism means to experience how the
degree that they are wage workers. Some have argued that dominant meanings of a society render the particular perspective of
women's domestic labor also represents a form of capitalist class one's own group invisible at the same time as they stereotype one's
exploitation insofar as it is labor covered by the wages a family group and mark it out as the Other
receives. As a group, however , women undergo specific forms of
gender exploitation in which their energies and power are o Cultural imperialism involves the universalization of a dominant group's
expended, often unnoticed and unacknowledged, usually to benefit experience and culture, and its establishment as the norm. Some groups
men by releasing them for more important and creative work, have exclusive or primary access to means of interpretation and
enhancing their status or the environment around them, or providing communication in a society. As a consequence, the dominant cultural
them with sexual or emotional service. products of the society, that is, those most widely disseminated, express
the experience, values, goals, and achievements of these groups. Often
without noticing they do so, the dominant groups project their own
2. Marginalization experience as representative of humanity as such.
o ... is the act of relegating or confining a group of people to a lower
o Across the world, sexuality is a common example of cultural
social standing or outer limit or edge of society. Overall, it is a
imperialism. The dominant group in society is heterosexual, so
process of exclusion. Marginalization is in some ways worse than
all other types of sexuality are grouped as Others and viewed
exploitation because society has decided that it cannot or will not
use these people even for labor. as inferior or abnormal. Culture and education systems
Examples of marginalized social groups: Elderly, Children, reinforce the notion that heterosexuality is normal and better.
Women, Poor, Differently Abled etc. Those who have different types of sexuality are told to become
o Marginalization is perhaps the most dangerous form of oppression. heterosexual.
A whole category of people is expelled from useful participation in
o Those who are oppressed by cultural imperialism are both marked by
social life and thus potentially subjected to severe material
stereotypes and made to feel invisible. The stereotypes define what they
deprivation (limited access to resources) and even extermination.
can and cannot be. At the same time, these same stereotypes turn these
3. Powerlessness people into a mass of Others that lack separate identities. The White
o The idea of powerlessness links to Marxs theory of socialism: some male can have a distinct identity and be an individual because he holds
people have power while others have-not. The powerless are the most power. All other groups are just groups of Others.
dominated by the ruling class and are situated to take orders and
rarely have the right to give them. Some of the fundamental 5. Violence
LEGAL THEORY YOUNG CHAPTER 1: DISPLACING THE DISTRIBUTIVE PARADIGM & CHAPTER 2: FIVE FACES OF OPPRESSION
o Violence is probably the most obvious and visible form of oppression. oppression is the direct result of xenophobia (an intense and
Members of some groups live with the knowledge that they must fear irrational fear of people, ideas, or customs that seem strange or
random, unprovoked attacks on their persons or property. These attacks foreign)
do not necessarily need a motive but are intended to damage, humiliate, o The oppression of violence consists not only in direct victimization, but in
or destroy the person. the daily knowledge shared by all member s of oppressed groups that
In American society, women, Blacks, Asians, Arabs, gay men, they are liable to violation, solely on account of their group identity. Just
and lesbians live under such threats of violence. And in at least living under such a threat of attack on oneself or family or friends
some regions, Jews, Puerto Ricans, Chicanos, and other deprive s the oppressed of freedom and dignity, and needlessly expends
Spanish-speaking Americans must fear violence as well. their energy.
All forms of sexual violence and hate crimes are prevalent
examples of violent oppression. Most, if not all, violent