Theorizing Racial Justice [Hardcover]

In his last major work written before his passing in 2021, eminent philosopher Charles W. Mills offers a searing critique of liberal political ideology. Through incisive, pragmatic analyses, Mills and his intellectual respondents highlight liberalism's failure to address global white supremacy, emphasizing its faults, limitations, and inadequacies. The volume includes an introduction by its editor, prominent political philosopher Elizabeth Anderson.In his last major work, prominent critical race theorist Charles W. Mills offers a searing analysis of the shortcomings of liberal political ideology. With a focus on John Rawls, the pre-eminent liberal political philosopher of the last 50 years, Mills critiques the faults, failures, and inadequacies of liberalism, highlighting its fundamental inability to address white supremacy on a global scale. Along with his intellectual respondents in the volume, Mills asserts the limits of Rawls' class-based principles, particularly within systemically racist societies like the United States, with unprecedented clarity. Through an intersectional exploration of contemporary culture and politics, Mills and the contributors instead emphasize the necessity of a historically corrective racial analysis in the pursuit of true social justice, urging readers to move not only beyond Rawls, but liberalism at large.Introduction: Elizabeth AndersonChapter 1: Theorizing Racial Justice: Charles W. MillsChapter 2: Ideal Theory and Racial Justice: Samuel FreemanChapter 3: Addressing Racial Injustice: Anthony Simon LadenChapter 4: Historicizing Racism and Liberalism: Nikhil Pal SinghChapter 5: Reflections on Rawls and Racial Justice: Michele Moody-AdamsChapter 6: Concluding Reflections on Mills, Non-Ideal Theory, and Methods of Political Philosophy: Elizabeth AndersonEndnotesCharles W. Millswas a Britain-born, Jamaican-raised Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at The Graduate Center, CUNY who earned his Master's and Doctor of Philƒ-