Journal article 1209 views
Family Autonomy and Class Fate
Gideon Calder 
Symposion, Volume: 3, Issue: 2, Pages: 131 - 149
Swansea University Author:
Gideon Calder
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DOI (Published version): 10.5840/symposion20163211
Abstract
The family poses problems for liberal understandings of social justice, because of the ways in which it bestows unearned privileges. This is particularly stark when we consider inter-generational inequality, or ‘class fate’ – the ways in which inequality is transmitted from one generation to the nex...
| Published in: | Symposion |
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| ISSN: | 1584-174X |
| Published: |
2016
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| Online Access: |
Check full text
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa30224 |
| Abstract: |
The family poses problems for liberal understandings of social justice, because of the ways in which it bestows unearned privileges. This is particularly stark when we consider inter-generational inequality, or ‘class fate’ – the ways in which inequality is transmitted from one generation to the next, with the family unit ostensibly a key conduit. There is a recognized tension between the assumption that families should as far as possible be autonomous spheres of decision-making, and the assumption that we should as far as possible equalize the life chances of all children, regardless of background. In this article I address this tension by way of recent liberal egalitarian literature, and consideration of the different dimensions of class fate. I argue, firstly, that the tension may not be of the a priori nature which liberals have tended to identify – and secondly, that as well as distributive and recognition-based aspects, the notion of contributive justice provides a particularly illuminating way of analyzing what is wrong about class fate, and the role of the family in promoting it. |
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| Keywords: |
family autonomy, contributive justice, inter-generational inequality, families, life chances |
| College: |
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |
| Issue: |
2 |
| Start Page: |
131 |
| End Page: |
149 |