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7 - Autonomy, association and pluralism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Jeff Spinner-Halev
Affiliation:
Professor of Political Science University of Nebraska
Avigail Eisenberg
Affiliation:
University of Victoria, British Columbia
Jeff Spinner-Halev
Affiliation:
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
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Summary

Critics of illiberal groups are right to point out that these groups can too readily undermine the rights and equality of individual group members. Some groups, particularly but not only traditional religious groups, are hierarchical and patriarchal; they often shun liberal democratic values. Some liberals suggest that this opposition to liberal norms and practices is a challenge that necessitates a response. Yet in their attempt to ensure equality, these critics too easily dismiss the autonomous choices that some people make, and are too ready to undermine pluralism for other goals. Some people actually choose to belong to illiberal groups; this is a choice that liberals ought to respect. Moreover, the tendency of some liberals to want the institutions of civil society to mirror the norms of the liberal state, dangerously undermines pluralism which we ought to accept as an inevitable outcome of liberty.

This hardly means that illiberal groups ought to be given all the autonomy they want. Some supporters of group life suggest that all groups – illiberal or not – be left alone to conduct their affairs as they wish. This view, however, would make individuals vulnerable to the decisions and power of groups, and would dangerously undermine individual autonomy and equality. My goal here is to find a middle course between these two views, one that tries to uphold individual autonomy and pluralism. Doing so does not mean finding the magic bullet that satisfies the concerns of all, dissolving all tensions between pluralism and autonomy.

Type
Chapter
Information
Minorities within Minorities
Equality, Rights and Diversity
, pp. 157 - 171
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

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