Nancy Holmstrom's reply to Ann Cudd

Locating the Injustice of Undocumented Migrant Oppression

“…16 Similarly, Cudd argues that thinking in terms of social groups can enable us to understand "unjust group-based hierarchies." 17 A "group-conscious practice of assessing inequality" 18 can enable us to uncover why women lack social equality with men all over the world, Latina/os with whites in the United States and elsewhere, persons with disabilities with the able-bodied, and so on. In sum, in a political conception of a social group we posit social groups inasmuch as doing so enables us to uncover oppression and unjust inequality.…”

“…Cudd argues that "what makes a person a member of a social group is not determined by any internal states of that person, but rather by objective facts about the world, including how others perceive and behave toward that person." 19 She calls these objective facts about the world "constraints." These constraints include "legal rights, obligations, burdens, stereotypical expectations, wealth, income, conventions, norms and practices."…”

“…These constraints include "legal rights, obligations, burdens, stereotypical expectations, wealth, income, conventions, norms and practices." 20 Thus, just as the formal denial of equal rights is a constraint, so is the expectation that people dress and talk in a particular way in professional settings. Importantly, the constraints of which Cudd speaks also include incentives and rewards for certain behaviors.…”

“…They are "facts that one does or ought to rationally consider in deciding how to act or plan one's life, or facts that shape attitudes about other persons." 21 For example, the expectation that men not cry in public is a constraint that the social group of men rather uniquely face. But this constraint also brings with it social rewards-namely, those that are associated with being perceived as masculine.…”

“…In sum, I follow Cudd in understanding a social group to be "a collection of persons who share (or who would share under similar circumstances) a set of constraints on action." 22 The constraints themselves are put in place by social institutions. Social institutions exist in a variety of forms.…”