Routledge Justice beyond 'Just Us': Dilemmas of Time, Place, and Difference in American Politics

Notions of justice and community in the United States are increasingly challenged by trends like immigration, multiculturalism, and economic inequality as well as historical legacies like Jim Crow-era racial segregation. These dynamics continually re-shape the communities in which people live, whether by generating new forms of interdependency and inequality, creating new social cleavages or exacerbating existing ones, or generating new spaces in which cross-boundary contact, conflict, or cooperation is possible. Revealing the ways in which notions of justice and community overlap in American politics and public discourse through concrete political questions which emerge when considering dimensions of time, place, and difference, Gregory W. Streich offers a fresh re-examination of the normative ideas of justice and community. He encourages Americans to move from a view of justice that applies only to people who are "like us" to a view of justice that applies to people beyond "just us." Review 'Gregory W. Streich has tackled a central question in democratic governance and civil society: Are we one nation with a single set of standards of justice or do some groups get better treatment than others? We tend to think of inequality primarily in economic terms, but Streich compellingly calls our attention to legal inequality-why some people (whites, the well-off, Christians) get better treatment than others (minorities, the poor, non-Christians) even as "justice" is presumed to be "blind." If we fail to heed his clarion call that this is a central issue, our society will be far worse off (and conflictual). Scholars and citizens take heed!' Eric M. Uslaner, University of Maryland College Park, USA 'This book offers a rich, well-grounded defense of justice. Streich argues that a commitment to justice depends upon expanding one’s sense of those to whom justice is due and honoring the great variety of practices that sustain it.' Emily Hauptmann, Western Michigan University, USA About the Author Gregory W. Streich is professor of political science at the University of Central Missouri and has published articles in Citizenship Studies, Journal of Social Philosophy, and Constellations. His current research examines the impact of social diversification and economic inequality on conceptions of national identity, justice, social capital, and citizenship.