Culture, Citizenship, and Community A Contextual Exploration of Justice as Evenhandedness

by Carens, Joseph H.

• ISBN13: 9780198297680
• ISBN10: 0198297688
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book contributes to contemporary debates about multiculturalism and democratic theory by reflecting upon the ways in which claims about culture and identity are actually advanced by immigrants, national minorities, aboriginals and other groups in a number of different societies. Carensadvocates a contextual approach to theory that explores the implications of theoretical views for actual cases, reflects on the normative principles embedded in practice, and takes account of the ways in which differences between societies matter. He argues that this sort of contextual approach willshow why the conventional liberal understanding of justice as neutrality needs to be supplemented by a conception of justice as evenhandedness and why the conventional conception of citizenship is an intellectual and moral prison from which we can be liberated by an understanding of citizenship thatis more open to multiplicity and that grows out of practices we judge to be just and beneficial.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Contextual Political Theory, Comparative Perspectives, and Justice as Evenhandedness	1	(20)
Complex Justice, Cultural Difference, and Political Community	21	(31)
Liberalism and Culture	52	(36)
Distinguishing between Difference and Domination: Reflections on the Relation between Pluralism and Equality	88	(19)
Cultural Adaptation and the Integration of Immigrants: The Case of Quebec	107	(33)
Muslim Minorities in Contemporary Democracies: The Limitations of Liberal Toleration	140	(21)
Multiple Political Memberships, Overlapping National Identities, and the Dimensions of Citizenship	161	(16)
Citizenship and the Challenge of Aboriginal Self-Government: Is Deep Diversity Desirable?	177	(23)
Democracy and Respect for Difference: The Case of Fiji	200	(60)
Conclusion	260	(5)
References	265	(10)
Index	275