On the limits of justice as eradicating ‘isms’

ABSTRACT Contemporary public discourse often defends the fight for justice and equality in western societies by offering a string of oppressive -isms to be eradicated. Presenting ableism as an example, this paper suggests that justice is best served when focusing on specific accounts of justice and can become superficial and misleading when many types of different injustice are placed in parallel. The paper asks about the similarities and differences between the fight for justice for learning impaired people and for people of colour. To fight ableism in any given society will entail different acts and sociocultural analyses than the fight against racism if it is to be pursued at more than a cosmetic level. This analysis is rooted in a distinction between justice as the actual doing of justice and procedural visions of justice common in liberal democracies which aim to progressively raise the overall level of justice in a society.