This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by ARRIGO, B. A. Articles by WILLIAMS, C. R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The (Im) Possibility of Democratic Justice and the "Gift" of the Majority

On Derrida, Deconstruction, and the Search for Equality

California School of Professional Psychology

CHRISTOPHER R. WILLIAMS

California School of Professional Psychology

This article conceptually explores the problem of democratic justice in the form of legislated equal rights for minority citizen groups. Following Derrida's critique of Western logic and thought, at issue is the (im)possibility of justice for under- and nonrepresented constituencies. Derrida's socioethical treatment of justice, law, hospitality, and community suggests that the majority bestows a gift (ostensible sociopolitical empowerment); however, the ruse of this gift is that the giver affirms an economy of narcissism and reifies the hegemony and power of the majority. This article concludes by speculating on the possibility of justice and equality informed by an affirmative postmodern framework. A cultural politics of difference, contingent universalities, undecidability, dialogical pedagogy, border crossings, and constitutive thought would underscore this transformative and deconstructive agenda.

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Vol. 16, No. 3, 321-343 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/1043986200016003005


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. A. Arrigo Justice and the deconstruction of psychological jurisprudence: The case of competency to stand trial Theoretical Criminology, February 1, 2003; 7(1): 55 - 88. [Abstract] [PDF]