Structural Injustice as Emergent Disorder

Bibliographic Data

ID24211335
AuthorsHochan Kim (0000-0001-5418-574X, Bates College)
Year2026
Pages1-15
Publication date2026-09-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0003055426101877
OpenAlexW7214319766
LanguageEN
References cited78

Structural injustice remains a puzzling concept despite its increasing prominence. I distill recent theoretical challenges into a dilemma: either structural injustice lacks the normative credentials of injustice given that wrongdoing is inessential, or it is redundant given existing theories that trace injustice to culpable state and other institutional failures. I then develop a novel account of structural injustice, the Complexity View, that unravels this dilemma. The emergent properties of human actions in a complex society explain what is “structural” about structural injustice, specifically how it can arise without (culpable) wrongdoing. Structural injustice is unjust because it is wrong to contribute to social processes that cause harm and to passively accept preventable forms of vulnerability and deprivation as tragic misfortunes. But this account of structural injustice has a sobering implication: while complexity explains what distinguishes structural injustice from other wrongs, it also sets significant epistemic limits on social reform.

complex social systems · Culpability · emergent properties · institutional failure · social harm · Social reform · structural injustice · Wrongdoing · Feminist Epistemology and Gender Studies · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Political Philosophy and Ethics

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