11 - Why Rawls’s Ideal Theory Leaves the Well-Ordered Society Vulnerable to Structural Oppression

Summary

Charles W. Mills’s persistent criticisms of Rawls’s ideal theory aptly motivated a turn to non-ideal theory, but also have deep, unexplored implications for Rawls’s ideal theory. Since ideal theory will remain useful as a supplement to non-ideal theory, these are worth pursuing. The criticisms put forward by Mills reveal two serious flaws in Rawls’s ideal theory: First, Rawls’s well-known focus on the “basic structure of society” as the primary subject of social justice puts way too much stock in the legal regulation of society, correspondingly ignoring other powerful types of social norms. Second, and relatedly, Rawls’s conception of social power is too highly moralized (too Hohfeldian) to enable him to come to grips with oppressive social power. These flaws need to be corrected and the limitations they entail must be overcome for a Rawlsian ideal society to be sufficiently resistant to breeding new forms of bigoted oppression.