Cosmopolitanism, Feminism, and the Problem of Cultural

ImperialismCSWG Postgraduate Seminar Series

08/02/12

Outline Context The problem Three ways of construing the charge

of cultural imperialism- Cultural Relativism (1)- Cultural Relativism (2)- Conflicting values

Feminist Cosmopolitan Response

Cosmopolitanism Individualism: All individuals are the primary units of

equal moral concern.

Universality: All individuals have the status of being a primary unit of equal moral concern.

Generality: Individuals are the primary units of moral concern for everyone.

What does this mean for global justice?

Feminism and Universalism

“Theorists like Nussbaum and Okin who raise liberal concerns about women’s equality and rights in multicultural contexts are accused of Eurocentrism, imperialism, patriarchal feminism, or simply arrogance, ignorance, and insensitivity vis-à-vis other cultures”

(Benhabib, 2002: 101)

The Problem A feminist cosmopolitanism:

The goal of working towards a more just world requires the application of universal norms and principles.

- The values expressed in the norms and principles advocated by a feminist cosmopolitanism are Western Values.

- Imposing those values globally represents a form of cultural imperialism.

Three ways of construing the charge of cultural imperialism

Claim 1:

There can be no universal principles of justice because there is no such thing as a universal value. Values are context-specific which means that they originate in particular cultural contexts and hence are relative to, and can only apply to, the culture in which they originate. Since there are no universal values, there is no objective standard by which societal codes can be judged, which means that no societal code is superior; each is just one among many.

Understanding C1o Rejects all universal valueso No cross-cultural agreemento Extreme cultural relativism: each cultural group has its own standards of what is right

o Values are only relevant in situations where people take them to be so

o No one standard is superior to any other o Tolerance

Understanding C1Rejecting a feminist cosmopolitanism:

A feminist cosmopolitan account which expresses universal values in the form of universal principles is misguided because it wrongly believes that there can be universal values and it is intolerant since it assumes that one normative standard of morality is superior to all others.

Rejecting C1① Cultures are taken as monolithic homogenous groups

which map on to state boundaries

② Static conception of culture: no room for social change

③ Culture as a ready-made, all-purpose explanation of human behaviour: precludes critical discussion about cultural practices

④ Why should we take the fact that standards of morality originate in different cultural contexts to suggest that one standard cannot be better than another?

Rejecting C1⑤ Self-contradictory: tolerance as a

universal principle

One way out would be to reject the tolerance requirement: “values are context-specific”Problem:

o This says nothing about why cultural imperialism is wrong

o Why is it wrong for one culture to impose their values on others?

Three ways of construing the charge of cultural imperialism

Claim 2:

There can be no universal principles of justice because there is no such thing as a universal value. Values are context-specific which means that they originate in particular cultural contexts and hence are relative to, and can only apply to, the culture in which they originate. Since there are no universal values, there is no objective standard by which societal codes can be judged, which means that no societal code is superior; each is just one among many. However, the principles and values which apply in any given cultural context are the ‘right’, ‘correct’ or ‘true’ ones.

Understanding C2o Basically, C2 is the same as C1o C2 differs from C1 in that C2 asserts that the speaker’s own vales are the ‘true’ ones

o Example: Ollie and Sophie

o Although C1 represents the general cultural relativist thesis, I think that C2 more accurately describes what is going on when people appeal to cultural relativism to reject the values of others with whom they do not agree

Rejecting C2① Suffers the same objections as C1 ② C2 has the added problem of being incoherent

C2 shows us something about C1

[…] normative relativism is self-subverting: for, in asking us to defer to local norms, it asks us to defer to norms that are in most cases strongly nonrelativistic. Most local traditions take themselves to be absolutely, not relatively true. So in asking us to follow the local, relativism asks us not to follow relativism.

(Nussbaum, 2000: 49)

Claim 3:

There can be universal principles of justice which can be applied to all human beings but they are not the principles found in the accounts advocated by Western academics.

Three ways of construing the charge of cultural imperialism

Understanding C3o No appeal to cultural relativismo Conflict between different valueso Cosmopolitanism is a form of Western cultural imperialism because it appeals to values which though supported in the Western world, are not supported elsewhere. In addition, there is an alternative set of values which is superior

Overcoming the Challenge of C3: A Two-Pronged StrategyThe first ‘prong’:

① Some try to argue that there is cross-cultural agreement and that certain universal values have roots globally and are not uniquely Western.

- Nussbaum, Sen

② Could appeal to the idea that cultures are not static, monolithic homogenous groups which map nicely onto state boundaries.

This is only going to get us so far: No longer cultural imperialism but a kind of value imperialism

Overcoming the Challenge of C3: A Two-Pronged Strategy

The second ‘prong’:Feminist cosmopolitan values:

Social Justice Individualism Equality Freedom

What reason do we have for preferring these values?

Overcoming the Challenge of C3: A Two-Pronged Strategy

Defenders of so-called ‘Asian’ values reject the status of each human being as free and equal.

They also reject the fundamental value given to each human being as the primary unit of moral concern.

The individualism of the cosmopolitan standpoint is also likely to be problematic for those feminists advocating an ethic of care.

Summing upThe charge that Western feminists are guilty of cultural imperialism is a worry about the imposition of universal norms

The charge of cultural imperialism is often made by appeal to cultural relativism

Cultural relativism is badHowever, the charge of cultural imperialism could also be made by appeal to a different set of values

The values that cosmopolitans wish to promote leave feminists better equipped to address their central aims

Final thoughts♥ Many cosmopolitans are

motivated by the sentiment that the world in which we live is shrinking

♥ Expansion of our moral consciousness

♥ The development of a world-wide language of human rights gives some hope for the development of a sense of cosmopolitan citizenship accompanied by a cosmopolitan conception of justice