
Structural Injustice and the Law
Virginia Mantouvalou (Editor), Jonathan Wolff (Editor)
In developing her conception of structural injustice, Iris Marion Young made a strict distinction between large-scale collective injustice that results from the normal functions of a society, and the more familiar concepts of individual wrong and deliberate state repression. Her ideas have attracted considerable attention in political philosophy, but legal theorists have been slower to consider the relation between structural injustice and legal analysis. While some forms of vulnerability to structural injustice can be the unintended consequences of legal rules, the law also has potential instruments to alleviate some forms of structural injustice.
Structural Injustice and the Law presents theoretical approaches and concrete examples to show how the concept of structural injustice can aid legal analysis, and how legal reform can, in practice, reduce or even eliminate some forms of structural injustice. A group of outstanding law and political philosophy scholars discuss a comprehensive range of interdisciplinary topics, including the notion of domination, equality and human rights law, legal status, sweatshop labour, labour law, criminal justice, domestic homicide reviews, begging, homelessness, regulatory public bodies and the films of Ken Loach. Drawn together, they build an invaluable resource for legal theorists exploring how to make use of the concept of structural injustice, and for political philosophers looking for a nuanced account of the law’s role both in creating and mitigating structural injustice.
List of contributors
Preface and acknowledgements
Introduction
Jonathan Wolff and Virginia Mantouvalou
1 On dominated dominators
Lea Ypi
2 ‘Cruel optimism’: the limits of legal liability as a tool for engaging with structural injustice
Colm Ó Cinnéide
3 Structural injustice and the law: a philosophical framework
George Letsas
4 The law’s contribution to deliberate structural injustice: the case of the global garment industry
Maeve McKeown
5 Segmented labour markets, structural injustice and legal remedies
Hugh Collins
6 Freedom of association and structural injustice
Alan Bogg
7 Criminal justice and social (in)justice
Nicola Lacey
8 Interrogating responsibility, agency and (in)justice in domestic abuse suicides
Vanessa E. Munro
9 Structural injustice and human rights: the case of begging
Virginia Mantouvalou
10 Structural injustice, homelessness and the law
Beth Watts-Cobbe and Lynne McMordie
11 Structural injustice and the regulatory public body landscape
Jude Browne
12 Free or unfree? Depicting structural injustice in courtrooms and in film
Guy Mundlak
Index
DOI: 10.14324/111.9781800087392
Publication date: 15 October 2024
PDF ISBN: 9781800087392
EPUB ISBN: 9781800087385
Hardback ISBN: 9781800087347
Paperback ISBN: 9781800087378
Virginia Mantouvalou (Editor) 
Virginia Mantouvalou is Professor of Human Rights and Labour Law at UCL Faculty of Laws.
Jonathan Wolff (Editor) 
Jonathan Wolff is Alfred Landecker Professor of Values and Public Policy, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford and Governing Body Fellow, Wolfson College Oxford.

The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, Volume 13
Philip Schofield, Philip Schofield, Tim Causer, Tim Causer, Chris Riley, Chris Riley, Jeremy Bentham, Jeremy Bentham,
11 April 2024

New Directions in Private Law Theory
Fabiana Bettini, Martin Fischer, Charles Mitchell, Prince Saprai,
16 October 2023

Panopticon versus New South Wales and other writings on Australia
Tim Causer, Philip Schofield, Jeremy Bentham,
24 February 2022

Picturing the Invisible
Paul Coldwell, Paul Coldwell, Ruth M. Morgan, Ruth M. Morgan,
17 January 2022
Sign up to our newsletter
Don't miss out!
Subscribe to the UCL Press newsletter for the latest open access books,
journal CfPs, news and views from our authors and much more!