scholarly journals Conscription and the Color Line: Rawls, Race and Vietnam

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Brandon M. Terry
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Black Families ◽  
Ideal Theory ◽  
Racial Group ◽  
Color Line ◽  
Racial Injustice ◽  
Black Poverty

This article revisits one of John Rawls's rare forays into activist politics, his proposal presented to the Harvard faculty, calling for a denunciation of the “2-S” system of student deferments from conscription. In little-studied archival papers, Rawls argued that the draft both exposed “background” structural racial injustice and constituted a burdening of black Americans that violated the norms of fair cooperation. Rather than obscuring racial injustice and focusing exclusively on economic inequality, as Charles Mills has claimed, Rawls rejected the ascendant conservative views that naturalized black poverty or else attributed it to cultural pathologies in black families. Thus Rawls found nothing illicit in taking the position of a disadvantaged racial group as a relevant comparison when applying his ideal theory to nonideal circumstances. However, I contend in this article that Rawls's account of political philosophy as an attempt to find a consensus may be similarly ideological, leading him to displace the reality of conflict through begging descriptions, expressivist formulations, and historical romanticism.

Utopophobia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Estlund
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Ideal Theory ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Sound Theory ◽  
Theory Versus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Practical Guidance

Throughout the history of political philosophy and politics, there has been continual debate about the roles of idealism versus realism. For contemporary political philosophy, this debate manifests in notions of ideal theory versus nonideal theory. Nonideal thinkers shift their focus from theorizing about full social justice, asking instead which feasible institutional and political changes would make a society more just. Ideal thinkers, on the other hand, question whether full justice is a standard that any society is likely ever to satisfy. And, if social justice is unrealistic, are attempts to understand it without value or importance, and merely utopian? This book argues against thinking that justice must be realistic, or that understanding justice is only valuable if it can be realized. The book does not offer a particular theory of justice, nor does it assert that justice is indeed unrealizable—only that it could be, and this possibility upsets common ways of proceeding in political thought. The book's author engages critically with important strands in traditional and contemporary political philosophy that assume a sound theory of justice has the overriding, defining task of contributing practical guidance toward greater social justice. Along the way, it counters several tempting perspectives, including the view that inquiry in political philosophy could have significant value only as a guide to practical political action, and that understanding true justice would necessarily have practical value, at least as an ideal arrangement to be approximated. Demonstrating that unrealistic standards of justice can be both sound and valuable to understand, the book stands as a trenchant defense of ideal theory in political philosophy.

scholarly journals Konserwatywna obrona nierówności i krytyka politycznych konsekwencji idei braterstwa w myśli politycznej Jamesa Fitzjamesa Stephena

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-82
Author(s):  
Lucjan Wroński ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Legal Equality ◽  
Liberal Concept

In his paper, the author analyses some premises of liberal concept of equality and its philosophical origins. He attempted to show affinities and differences between liberal and conservative approaches to legal equality. He argues that economic inequality is compatible with political and legal liberties within conservative political philosophy. Victorian lawyer James Fitzjames Stephen proved that fraternity is an ambiguous ideal conceived from utilitarian perspective mainly because that it would be political naïvete to expect love from our citizens instead of justice and respect.

Feasibility, Normativity, and Institutional Guarantees

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Tomasi
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Ideal Theory ◽  
General View ◽  
Justice As Fairness ◽  
Economic Liberty ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Market Democracy

This chapter considers John Rawls' conception of ideal theory, with particular emphasis on the implications of problems of feasibility for normative political philosophy and market democracy's institutional guarantees. It defends Rawls' general view of ideal theory, first by explaining why the objection to market democracy—that even if market democratic institutional forms appear attractive in theory, they are unlikely to deliver the goods in practice and so are defective for that reason—has little force when applied against the idealism of left liberalism. It then examines why such arguments are equally ineffective when trained against the idealism of free market fairness. It also analyzes Rawls' idea of “realistic utopianism” before concluding by asking whether market democratic regimes that treat economic liberty as constitutionally basic can realize all the requirements of justice as fairness.

The Global Racial Order

2019 ◽  
pp. 182-210
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Donahue-Ochoa
Keyword(s):  
Differential Diagnosis ◽  
Social Status ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Racial Group ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
East Asians ◽  
Global Society ◽  
Racial Injustice ◽  
The World

Chapter 7 offers a differential diagnosis of global racial injustice. Against Charles W. Mills’s theory that we live under global white supremacy, the chapter argues that the white racial group no longer dominates all other racial groups in the world. In particular, those raced as yellow by global society—roughly, East Asians and their descendants—are no longer dominated by racial whites and whiteness. More than this, the supreme political and social status enjoyed by whites over all other racial groups is also waning. The chapter therefore argues that our global racial order is best understood as a system of “partitioned white primacy.” In this system, racial whites exert racial primacy over racial reds, browns, and blacks; but the system is partitioned, because whites do not exert such primacy over those raced as yellow. Moreover, such primacy as whites do exert over other racial groups is less than supremacy, and it is even now being challenged. The chapter then shows how such primacy still suppresses resistance and thereby makes all unfree.

scholarly journals BIDIL: A RACE-TARGETED DRUG FOR BLACK AMERICAN’S ONLY

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Naveen Chandra Talniya
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Racial Group ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
The Past ◽  
Targeted Drug ◽  
Racial Disparities In Health ◽  
Targeted Medicine

  It has been noted that pharma research toward race-targeted medicine and it criticism is going on simultaneously over the past few years. Some argued that drugs specifically target to cure particular racial groups could play a vital role against racial disparities in health. While others claimed that race-targeted medicine inappropriately treats race as a biological reason for racial disparities when broader social and environmental factors may offer better descriptions. Much of this debate includes the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of drug BiDil in 2005, which became the first drug to be marked for a specific racial group black Americans who suffers from heart failure (HF). This controversial drug was declared failed due to less attention of physician’s as well as its high cost in market. The highlighted part of this review is that besides much criticism still this drug prescribed by majority of physicians. Moreover, BiDil is not only one which is race specific but also there are more drugs which have been claimed to have different effects in different racial or ethnic groups.  

scholarly journals Social Media Posts About Racism Leads to Evaluative Backlash for Black Job Applicants

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 205630512097836
Author(s):  
Simon Howard ◽  
Kalen Kennedy ◽  
Francisco Tejeda
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Employee Selection ◽  
Racial Group ◽  
Job Applicants ◽  
Cover Letter ◽  
Future Directions

Black Americans post about race and race-related issues on social media more than any other racial group. In this study, we investigated whether Black Americans who post about racism on social networking sites (i.e., Facebook) experience evaluative backlash during the employee selection process. Participants ( N = 154) were given a Black job candidate’s cover letter, resume, and a scanned printout of their social media. Depending on what condition they were randomly assigned to, the applicant’s social media contained posts about racism or posts that were race neutral. Results indicated that Black individuals whose posts were about racism were evaluated less favorably than Black individuals whose posts were race neutral. Specifically, they were perceived as being less likable. In addition, Black individuals whose social media posts were related to racism were less likely to be offered an interview for a job. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Idealization and Abstraction in Models of Injustice

Hypatia ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-346
Author(s):  
Leif Hancox‐Li
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Ideal Theory ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Nonideal Theory ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

Charles Mills has argued against ideal theory in political philosophy on the basis that it contains idealizations. He calls for political philosophers to do more nonideal theory, namely political theory that pays more attention to the most visible oppressions in society, such as those based on race, gender, and class. Mills's argument relies on a distinction between idealization and abstraction. Idealizations involve adding false assumptions to one's model, which is unacceptable, whereas abstractions merely leave out details without undermining descriptive power. By studying formal models of injustice, I argue that the idealization/abstraction distinction is unhelpful. Either the distinction exists only relative to one's modeling purposes, or all models in political theory contain idealizations. Either way, the distinction does not help Mills's cause. Furthermore, there are arguments from philosophy of science for the epistemic benefits of idealizations. However, Mills's call for greater emphasis on the most visible mechanisms of oppression can be supported without relying on an idealization/abstraction distinction. I provide three alternative reasons for why we should prefer political theories that place more emphasis on race‐, class‐, and gender‐based oppression.

From Unwatchable Life to Consumable Spectacle: On History and the Black-Korean Conflict

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 280-296
Author(s):  
Shelley Sang-Hee Lee
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
Racial Injustice ◽  
Interethnic Conflict ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

This article considers the immigrant store owner as spectacle, signifier, and actor in Korean-Black relations in Los Angeles during the late twentieth century, arguing that the “Black-Korean conflict” was an historical and cultural phenomenon in which events and their representations built upon each other. Members of these groups sometimes resisted and interrogated the framework of interethnic conflict which was projected onto them, but also incorporated it into their outlooks and organizing strategies. The article also reflects upon efforts to address intergroup tensions and conflict against a backdrop of widespread racial injustice and economic inequality in Los Angeles and the United States.

scholarly journals Multiple Dimensions of Racial Group Identification Among Adult Black Americans

1997 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Thornton ◽  
Thanh V. Tran ◽  
Robert Joseph Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Group Identification ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Racial Group ◽  
Multiple Dimensions

scholarly journals How Racial Injustice Undermines News Sources and News-Based Inferences

Episteme ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Eric Bayruns García
Keyword(s):  
Racial Prejudice ◽  
Racial Group ◽  
Doxastic Justification ◽  
News Sources ◽  
News Source ◽  
News Organizations ◽  
Racial Injustice ◽  
Information Domain ◽  
Domain I

Abstract I argue racial injustice undermines the reliability of news source reports in the information domain of racial injustice. I argue that this in turn undermines subjects’ doxastic justification in inferences they base on these news sources in the racial injustice information domain. I explain that racial injustice does this undermining through the effect of racial prejudice on news organizations’ members and the effect of society's racially unjust structure on non-dominant racial group-controlled news sources.

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