Iris Marion Young

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

Vi lever i en tid då den politiska samstämmigheten har gjorts till dygd inom politiken. Under 1990- och 2000-talet lämnade många socialdemokratiska partier den polariserande vänsterpositionen till förmån för det harmoniska mittenfältet. Samtidigt är det just frånvaron av politiska konflikter och reella alternativ som har banat väg för ytterhögerns framgångar. Och med den ekonomiska globaliseringen minskar kapitalets behov av att söka samförstånd med såväl stat som fackföreningsrörelse. I Fronesis nr 3–4 uppmärksammas politikens nödvändiga konfliktdimension. Innehåll i Fronesis nr 3-4 (192 sidor): Thomas Tidholm: Den politiska situationen Anders Kalat och Cecilia von Otter: Politik är antagonism Anders Kalat och Camilla Lundberg: Politisk identitet och antagonism: klass, kön och etnicitet Chantal Mouffe: Hegemoni och nya politiska subjekt: med sikte mot ett nytt demokratibegrepp Floya Anthias och Nira Yuval-Davis: Att sätta feminismen i sin kontext – genusmässiga, etniska och klassmässiga skiljelinjer Slavoj Zizek: Mångkulturalismen eller den multinationella kapitalismens kulturella logik Klas Gustavsson: Negri, Sinisi och den politiska ekonomin John Sinisi: Hobbes skugga Antonio Negri: Keynes och den kapitalistiska teorin om staten Yvonne Hirdman: Ett småberusat middagstal Per-Albin Hansson: Kvinnokraften LO:s kongress 1936 (protokoll): Saltsjöbadsförhandlingarna och samförståndet Iris Young: Uppror i det välfärdskapitalistiska samhället Linnea Nilsson: En politik utan antagonismer? Perry Anderson: En kommentar: Makt, politik och upplysningen Helen Wilkinson: Fortfarande det Andra könet Richard Rorty: Tillbaka till klasspolitiken

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.

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 foreword 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. '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, Philosophy, Queens University '[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, Philosophy, University College London

Mot slutet av 1900-talet började många teoretiker och aktivister se framför sig nya möjligheter till transnationellt samarbete för att främja fred och global rättvisa. I Globala utmaningar ger Iris Marion Young nytt liv åt dessa förhoppningar genom att presentera några tydliga svar på vad hon uppfattar som dagens stora globala frågor. Boken är strukturerad kring tre centrala teman: Självbestämmande Inspirerad av ursprungsbefolkningarnas krav utarbetar Young ett begrepp om självbestämmande som är förenligt med starkare politiska institutioner på global nivå. Den styrelsemodell hon förordar bygger på en princip om självbestämmande som ickedominans, där de olika subjekten relaterar till varandra i en decentraliserad federationsstruktur. Krig och våld I sin kritik av den statliga våldsanvändningen menar Young att väpnat våld för att motverka förtryck endast bör användas i undantagsfall och då påminna mer om insatser för att upprätthålla lagen än om traditionella krigsoperationer. Målet bör vara att överge statscentrerade synsätt och arbeta för att förverkliga en rättsstatsprincip på global nivå. Global rättvisa I bokens avslutande del argumenterar Young för att varken den kosmopolitiska eller den nationalistiska hållningen erbjuder ett lämpligt sätt att förhålla sig till global rättvisa; som alternativ utvecklar hon därför ett nytt ansvarsbegrepp som utgår från hur individer och organisationer är inbegripna i sociala strukturer som skapar globala orättvisor.

In the late twentieth century many writers and activists envisioned new possibilities of transnational cooperation toward peace and global justice. In this book Iris Marion Young aims to revive such hopes by responding clearly to what are seen as the global challenges of the modern day. Inspired by claims of indigenous peoples, the book develops a concept of self-determination compatible with stronger institutions of global regulation. It theorizes new directions for thinking about federated relationships between peoples which assume that they need not be large or symmetrical. Young argues that the use of armed force to respond to oppression should be rare, genuinely multilateral, and follow a model of law enforcement more than war. She finds that neither cosmopolitan nor nationalist responses to questions of global justice are adequate and so offers a distinctive conception of responsibility, founded on participation in social structures, to describe the obligations that both individuals and organizations have in a world of global interdependence. Young applies clear analysis and cogent moral arguments to concrete cases, including the wars against Serbia and Iraq, the meaning of the US Patriot Act, the conflict in Palestine/Israel, and working conditions in sweat shops.

In the late twentieth century many writers and activists envisioned new possibilities of transnational cooperation toward peace and global justice. In this book Iris Marion Young aims to revive such hopes by responding clearly to what are seen as the global challenges of the modern day. Inspired by claims of indigenous peoples, the book develops a concept of self-determination compatible with stronger institutions of global regulation. It theorizes new directions for thinking about federated relationships between peoples which assume that they need not be large or symmetrical. Young argues that the use of armed force to respond to oppression should be rare, genuinely multilateral, and follow a model of law enforcement more than war. She finds that neither cosmopolitan nor nationalist responses to questions of global justice are adequate and so offers a distinctive conception of responsibility, founded on participation in social structures, to describe the obligations that both individuals and organizations have in a world of global interdependence. Young applies clear analysis and cogent moral arguments to concrete cases, including the wars against Serbia and Iraq, the meaning of the US Patriot Act, the conflict in Palestine/Israel, and working conditions in sweat shops.

Written over a span of more than two decades, the essays by Iris Marion Young collected in this volume describe diverse aspects of women's lived body experience in modern Western societies. Drawing on the ideas of several twentieth century continental philosophers--including Simone de Beauvoir, Martin Heidegger, Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty--Young constructs rigorous analytic categories for interpreting embodied subjectivity. The essays combine theoretical description of experience with normative evaluation of the unjust constraints on their freedom and opportunity that continue to burden many women. The lead essay rethinks the purpose of the category of "gender" for feminist theory, after important debates have questioned its usefulness. Young's classic essay, "Throwing Like a Girl," is reprinted here, along with a comment of the impact of that essay twenty years later. Newer essays include reflection on the meaning of being at home, and the need for privacy in old age residences. Other essays analyze aspects of the experience of women and girls that have received little attention even in feminist theory--such as the sexuality of breasts, or menstruation as punctuation in a woman's life story. Young describes the phenomenology of moving in a pregnant body and the tactile pleasures of clothing. While academically rigorous, the essays are also written with engaging style, incorporating vivid imagery and autobiographical narrative. On Female Body Experience raises issues and takes positions that speak to scholars and students in philosophy, sociology, geography, medicine, nursing, and education.

Democratic equality entails a principle that everyone whose basic interests are affected by policies should be included in the process of making them. Yet individuals and groups often claim that decision making processes are dominated by only some of the interests and perspectives in the society. What are the ideals of inclusion through which such criticisms should be made, and which might guide more inclusive political practice? This book considers that question from the point of view of norms of democratic communication, processes of representation and association, and how wide the scope of political jurisdictions should be. Democratic theorists have not sufficiently attended to the ways processes of debate and decision making often marginalize individuals and groups because the norms of political discussion are biased against some forms of expression. Inclusion and Democracy broadens our understanding of democratic communication by reflecting on the positive political functions of narrative, rhetorically situated appeals, and public protest. It reconstructs concepts of civil society and public sphere as enacting such plural forms of communication among debating citizens in large-scale societies. The book considers issues of the scope of the polity at two levels: global and local. The scope of a polity should extend as wide as the scope of social and economic interactions that raise issues of justice. Today this implies the need for global democratic institutions. At a more local level, processes of residential segregation and the design of municipal jurisdictions often result in the ability for actions in one locale to affect those in other locales without those making the decisions having to include some of those affected in the decision making process. Metropolitan governments which preserve significant local autonomy may therefore be necessary to promote political equality.

Iris Marion Young is known for her ability to connect theory to public policy and practical politics in ways easily understood by a wide range of readers. This collection of essays, which extends her work on feminist theory, explores questions such as the meaning of moral respect and the ways individuals relate to social collectives, together with timely issues like welfare reform, same-sex marriage, and drug treatment for pregnant women. One of the many goals of Intersecting Voices is to energize thinking in those areas where women and men are still deprived of social justice. Essays on the social theory of groups, communication across difference, alternative principles for family law, exclusion of single mothers from full citizenship, and the ambiguous value of home lead to questions important for rethinking policy. How can women be conceptualized as a single social collective when there are so many differences among them? What spaces of discourse are required for the full inclusion of women and cultural minorities in public discussion? Can the conceptual and practical link between self-sufficiency and citizenship that continues to relegate some people to second-class status be broken? How could legal institutions be formed to recognize the actual plurality of family forms? In formulating such questions and the answers to them, Young draws upon ideas from both Anglo-American and Continental philosophers, including Seyla Benhabib, Joshua Cohen, Luce Irigaray, Susan Okin, William Galston, Simone de Beauvoir, and Michel Foucault.

Feminist social theory and female body experience are the twin themes of Iris Marion Young's twelve outstanding essays written over the past decade and brought together here. Her contributions to social theory raise critical questions about women and citizenship, the relations of capitalism and women's oppression, and the differences between a feminist theory that emphasizes women's difference and one that assumes a gender-neutral humanity. Loosely following a phenomenological method of description, Young's essays on female embodiment discuss female movement, pregnancy, clothing, and the breasted body. In an introduction that situates her work in the context of shifts in feminist theory and politics over the past decade, Young emphasizes the rootedness of her theorizing in a dedicated and seasoned political activism.