Intersubjective Meanings and Oppressive Social Practices

Abstract Recently, social philosophers have argued for a practice-based social ontology that can furnish a robustly social account of oppression and, in turn, illuminate the obstacles to and possibilities for social change. This paper argues for an intersubjective approach to oppressive social practices. Oppressive meanings constitute relationships between agents in ways they neither choose nor decide on; agents uphold those meanings through their relationships to others. This approach, I argue, can illuminate a critical case of an oppressive social practice that revolves around struggles for recognition and the dynamics of social change.