Recognition and Voice, Gender and Poverty: The Challenge for Social Justice

Abstract

This chapter begins with an overview of how some of the theoretical literature on social justice has addressed the question: is social justice about distribution or is it about relations of respect, recognition and voice — or a combination of the two? It then turns to its main focus: the recognition paradigm of social justice. An edited collection, Recognition Struggles and Social Movements, which addresses the intersections of gender, ‘race’/ethnicity and sexuality explains that “recognition has been grounded in normative political theories of justice, citizenship, and democracy in which inclusion, rights, and membership are the cornerstones” (Hobson, 2003: 2). “Identity is at the core of the recognition paradigm’ it states and recognition struggles ’make claims resulting from devalued statuses and misrecognized identities” (2003: 4).