A Research On Iris Young’s Social Justice

Iris Young’s liberating view of social justice was born from her reflection on the welfare capitalist society in the United States and her conceptualization of the demands of new social movements.Welfare capitalism system is widely regarded as the peak of civil rights,but this is not the case,because in which the political rights of citizens are almost extinct.Under the guidance of welfare capitalism,we are heading for a lifeless abyss without public responsibilities and actions.Young suggests that there is a terrible tendency of depoliticization in the welfare capitalist society,which originates not only from the selfish and profit-seeking nature of capitalism,but also from the abuse of the distribution paradigm.The atomistic understanding of interpersonal relationship in the distribution paradigm caters to the original private nature of welfare capitalism,thus producing ideological function to the depoliticization in welfare capitalism society,making the social process and social structure obscured,breeding an "incomplete" view of individual responsibility,and hindering the social liberation movement that must be promoted by the collective.Young,aiming at the concept of individualistic justice in the distributive paradigm,puts forward the idea of group justice and tried to integrate the dimensions of history and human unity into the social justice view.Young has conceptualized the concept of "social group" completely,making it crossed,fluid and relational.The idea of the politics of difference and all Young’s ideas on justice are based on this kind of social group.Many scholars who emphasize personal dignity and distributive justice question this innovation,believing that they will deny the agent’s ability to act or ignore distributive justice.However,Young’s concept of social groups does not stand in the way of individual freedom.Nor does she ignore distributive outcomes,but takes a historical perspective,regarding the distribution result as a stage of continuous social process,rather than a static ending once and for all.Through the emphasis on process and collective power,Young called for the emancipation ideal characterized by the participation of all people in political actions.