Class as Moral Injury

Jacob Blumenfeld explores the intersection of class and recognition theory, examining how the class structure degrades human dignity and autonomy. For Blumenfeld, class represents a moral injury to the status of being human. Unlike identity-based claims that seek recognition, the condition of class necessitates abolition. The paradox is that even though class can be diagnosed as a form of misrecognition, its rectification cannot be accomplished via recognition. To recognize class as a moral injury is to recognize that recognition cannot resolve the misrecognition of class. Undoing the epistemic injustices and misrecognitions of class rather demands the collective work of abolishing class itself.