M. A. Fineman and A. Grear (eds.): Vulnerability: Reflections on a New Ethical Foundation for Law and Politics

Abstract

The concept of vulnerability has attracted as many supporters as sceptics in academia, policy, and civil society. On the one hand, vulnerability can be seen as coextensive to the discourses of risk, increasing people’s passivity in their public life and promoting the infantilization and dependency of adults (Furedi 2008). Others invite caution and encourage awareness about the ways in which vulnerability can be colonised and appropriated by more conservative projects. Instead of justice, the response to vulnerability discourse has been stronger surveillance and control policies to ‘manage’ marginalized groups, such as sex workers and economic migrants (Munro and Scoular 2012). It is clear vulnerability has limitations and any investment with a theoretical framework should include an internal awareness of its strengths and downturns. Ann V. Murphy embraces the ethical appeal of vulnerability, but cautions on its ambivalent nature between caring and violence (Murphy 2012), elicited by metaphor of the wound in the concept. With this in mind, Fineman and Grear’s edited collection shows the versatility and applicability of this concept—both in theory and in practice—without abandoning the exercise of exploring reflectively the limitations of goals. The depth and breadth of the vulnerability thesis proposed by Martha Albertson Fineman, with whom the authors engage in a dialogue, is evident in the variety of problems addressed in this collection. Far from being a purely theoretical exercise, the authors in this collection show how concrete demands for justice can be articulated and applied through the vulnerability thesis. They do so by responding to Fineman’s proposal to move away from the universal rational being as the legitimate bearer of rights and replacing it with an understanding of universal vulnerability. The contributions engage directly with the main core ideas of vulnerability. They approach them practically, critically reviewing housing law, animal rights, human