Reciprocity Without Justice: Tommie Shelby on Law, Obligation, and Structural Injustice

This paper examines Tommie Shelby’s account of reciprocity, civic obligation, and structural injustice, focusing on his claim that the urban poor do not violate principles of reciprocity when they refuse menial work or withhold respect for the authority of unjust law. Against dominant moral narratives that equate legal compliance and labor participation with civic virtue, Shelby argues that obligations of reciprocity arise only under conditions of fair social cooperation. Where institutions systematically deny dignity, opportunity, and equal protection, their claims to moral authority are significantly weakened. Drawing on Shelby’s analysis in Justice, Deviance, and the Dark Ghetto, this paper reconstructs his conditional account of civic obligation and situates it within broader debates about legitimacy, resistance, and justice. It argues that Shelby offers a compelling framework for evaluating law and work under conditions of structural injustice, one that shifts moral responsibility away from marginalized individuals and toward unjust institutions. The paper concludes by defending Shelby’s central insight that justice must precede obligation, and that appeals to reciprocity absent institutional legitimacy function not as moral principles, but as instruments of coercion.