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Distinguished Lecture: Social structure, narrative and explanation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Sally Haslanger
Sally Haslanger*
Affiliation:
MIT
*
*Email: sally.haslanger@gmail.com
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Abstract

Recent work on social injustice has focused on implicit bias as an important factor in explaining persistent injustice in spite of achievements on civil rights. In this paper, I argue that because of its individualism, implicit bias explanation, taken alone, is inadequate to explain ongoing injustice; and, more importantly, it fails to call attention to what is morally at stake. An adequate account of how implicit bias functions must situate it within a broader theory of social structures and structural injustice; changing structures is often a precondition for changing patterns of thought and action and is certainly required for durable change.

Keywords

implicit biasstructural explanationsocial meaningsocial justicenarrative
Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , February 2015 , pp. 1 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2015

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