Responsibility and reciprocation : on the principles of an Afro-Communitarian theory of distributive justice

Abstract

This study critically explores major Anglo-American accounts of what should be distributed to ensure people can pursue a variety of ends in the demand for justice and the distributive principles needed to guarantee it. Wide-ranging disagreements about what is good for the individual and how to ensure she receives a justified share of it characterise this tradition. The value of participating in caring and supportive relationships with others as an important end for citizens to pursue and the part the community plays in supporting this way of relating do not feature as central priorities of this tradition. I propose an Afro-communitarian alternative that (a) defines the currency of justice as the goods, opportunities and resources needed to cultivate other-regarding virtues to relate with others in a caring and supportive way and (b) grounds its principle of distribution on the ideal of harmony. Pursuing harmony as a distributive ideal justifies both a sufficient level of access to the currency of justice and a moral maximum to how much individuals and communities may accumulate. Liberal exponents of the Anglo-American tradition account for the principles of distributive justice that enable individuals to pursue a wide variety of ends, but do not promote community with others as an objectively valuable end. In addition, after equality was rejected as a distributive ideal in the 1980s and 1990s, this tradition has not articulated a distributive ideal that justifies prioritising those who are worst-off while ensuring everyone meets a minimal standard of sufficiency and that no one exceeds a moral maximum.