PHIL 249 - Poverty, Oppression, and Privilege

(POV 249) FDR: HU
Credits: 3

This seminar asks one overarching question: Are the increasingly common - and contested - concepts of “oppression” and “privilege” useful in poverty studies and in the pursuit of justice? Along the way, we consider the following more specific questions: Is poverty a form of oppression? Is systemic disadvantage always oppressive or is it sometimes justifiable? What is the relationship between privilege and moral responsibility? Is privilege blameworthy? Do the privileged have distinct responsibilities to advocate for the just treatment of the disadvantaged? For that matter, do the oppressed have their own distinct responsibilities or would such a burden be an additional form of oppression? Is advocating for the disadvantaged privileged and (sometimes) oppressive? If so, is failing to advocate even worse? Who is responsible for the pursuit of justice and what, if anything, should be done? Pickett.