False Consciousness and Fragile Agency: Towards a Solidarity Response

This chapter explores the nature of everyday compliance with oppressive norms, and argues that although there is no simple excuse of ignorance, the damage to the agency of the oppressed in such situations is relevant to the appropriate response to wrongdoing. However, any account of the appropriate response should meet two desiderata: first, it should it should not ignore or undermine the agency of the oppressed person, and second, it should make sense of the difference in position, and corresponding difference in appropriate response, of those in the oppressed groups and those in the oppressor groups. The chapter proposes a solidarity based response, which is primarily appropriate between those who are in the same group. This avoids the problem of being patronizing because it is limited to those who are in the same situation, and so does not have a hierarchical structure, and it makes sense of the relevance of different social positions without denying that those in the oppressed group are also in the grip of false consciousness.