Connected by Commitment. Oppression and Our Responsibility to Undermine It, Oxford University Press, 2017
Connected by Commitment is a study of our responsibility to dismantle structures of oppression. Its central claim is that the demands made on us by the injustice of structures of gender, racial and economic oppression cannot be captured by traditional concepts of obligation, and should instead be described by a notion I call “commitment.” A commitment is a relationship of obligations developed over time through the accumulated effect of open-ended actions and responses. The concept of commitment highlights the way in which agents incur obligations via their voluntary actions but without knowing in advance the precise content of their obligations.
Connected by Commitment is motivated by the double challenge of powerlessness and denial in the face of structural injustice. As discrete, individual actions cannot transform large-scale, impersonal structures, individuals feel powerless and, consequently, deny their responsibility to act against structural injustice. To address this challenge, I argue, we need to adopt an approach that tackles the normative question of our responsibility for unjust structures in light of the descriptive, social theoretical question of what makes these structures enduring.The appeal of the notion of commitment comes from its ability to capture the phenomenon of structural oppression at both the descriptive and the normative levels. Understanding social structures on the model of commitment, the book argues, is an antidote against the double challenge of powerlessness and denial because it helps us understand how the cumulative effects of individual actions are implicated in sustaining and transforming oppressive social relations.
I develop this argument in relation to three sets of social relations: legal, care and work relations. Thus, I argue that each of these spheres takes shape around a practice that makes us vulnerable to one another. Oppressive relations are maintained through processes that make this mutual vulnerability invisible and in so doing are able to place it disproportionately on disadvantaged social groups. For example, in the sphere of work relations, oppressive relations between low and high-skilled labor are maintained through processes that – by relying on ideas of individual achievement and rights as boundaries – deny their mutual dependence and place it disproportionately on the group of labor designated as “low-skilled.” I show that low and high-skilled labor share an interest in limiting capitalist accumulation, an interest obscured by the hierarchical division between them. Labor should organize around this interest, not be reduced to protections against managers. This analysis reveals labor as a public activity, and labor relations as political relations. In arguing for an understanding of labor relations as commitments I argue for a form of democratic action that goes beyond the workplace.
A detailed abstract and chapter outline can be downloaded here.
Connected by Commitment is motivated by the double challenge of powerlessness and denial in the face of structural injustice. As discrete, individual actions cannot transform large-scale, impersonal structures, individuals feel powerless and, consequently, deny their responsibility to act against structural injustice. To address this challenge, I argue, we need to adopt an approach that tackles the normative question of our responsibility for unjust structures in light of the descriptive, social theoretical question of what makes these structures enduring.The appeal of the notion of commitment comes from its ability to capture the phenomenon of structural oppression at both the descriptive and the normative levels. Understanding social structures on the model of commitment, the book argues, is an antidote against the double challenge of powerlessness and denial because it helps us understand how the cumulative effects of individual actions are implicated in sustaining and transforming oppressive social relations.
I develop this argument in relation to three sets of social relations: legal, care and work relations. Thus, I argue that each of these spheres takes shape around a practice that makes us vulnerable to one another. Oppressive relations are maintained through processes that make this mutual vulnerability invisible and in so doing are able to place it disproportionately on disadvantaged social groups. For example, in the sphere of work relations, oppressive relations between low and high-skilled labor are maintained through processes that – by relying on ideas of individual achievement and rights as boundaries – deny their mutual dependence and place it disproportionately on the group of labor designated as “low-skilled.” I show that low and high-skilled labor share an interest in limiting capitalist accumulation, an interest obscured by the hierarchical division between them. Labor should organize around this interest, not be reduced to protections against managers. This analysis reveals labor as a public activity, and labor relations as political relations. In arguing for an understanding of labor relations as commitments I argue for a form of democratic action that goes beyond the workplace.
A detailed abstract and chapter outline can be downloaded here.