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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 December 2004
Bound by Recognition. By Patchen Markell. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. 320p. $59.50 cloth, $19.95 paper.
Mainstream views of justice have typically concerned themselves with the distribution of goods such as money, power, opportunity, and liberty. In recent years, however, the traditionally neglected good of recognition has become a major focus of attention in contemporary politics and political theory. Stirred by a growing awareness of the pluralistic character of modern societies, many people now believe that recognition is something that is owed as a matter of justice. Just as poverty and a denial of liberty can have catastrophic implications for a person's well-being and self-development, misrecognition and nonrecognition can demean and insult an individual, leaving him or her with a crippling feeling of inferiority. In response to perceived failures of recognition, identity-related groups have called for significant changes in public policies and institutions: Political debates about everything from the college curriculum to laws regulating marriage, to language rights and race-conscious districting, to institutions of self-government for indigenous peoples and national minorities have been framed as “struggles for recognition.”
