Researching Discrimination: Analysis of the Concept of Justice by Iris Marion Young

With this research paper I give an overview of the concept of justice promoted by Iris Marion Young and her politics of positional difference, specifically through the possibilities of its application in the research on gender... [ view full abstract ]

With this research paper I give an overview of the concept of justice promoted by Iris Marion Young and her politics of positional difference, specifically through the possibilities of its application in the research on gender discrimination in the labour market. Through Young’s positionality I locate women as a vulnerable group in the society and discuss the basis of their oppression as their different starting positions in the labour market. I argue that in order to challenge the existing inequalities and transform the structures which enforce discrimination we need to start with the concept of justice.
Young calls for an understanding of justice that is strongly conscious about difference. According to her social justice does not require melting away differences, but instead requests for institutions that promote reproduction of and respect for group differences without oppression. Promoting the politics of positional difference, as response to structural inequalities, she argues that public and private institutional policies and practices that interpret equality as requiring are being blind to group differences are not likely to undermine persistent structural group differences and often reinforce them. In her discussion on positionality Young describes people as differently positioned in structural processes, which leads to their unequal opportunities for self-development, access to resources, to make decisions both about the conditions of their own action and that of others, or to be treated with respect.
In this paper I discuss Young’s argument that the politics of positional difference is important because it highlights the depth and systematic basis of inequality, and shows that inequality before the law is not sufficient to remedy this inequality, although I claim that one of the key steps in tackling the disadvantaged positioning of vulnerable groups in the society is the transformation of the legal background and policies which enforce inequality.