"Reasonable Pluralism": A Concept of Diversity for a Free and Just Society

While commonly viewed as a political theorist, John Rawls presents a normative theory that is very sociological in its aspiration and scheme. Rawls’s concept of “reasonable pluralism” can be used to designate a desirable society in which diverse ways of life can flourish, yet social and structural injustices do not pass under the guise of value pluralism. Concerns for social injustices have led many theorists to argue that it is necessary for a society to limit the social space of freedom with law and other political devices. The scope of such direct social control has often been expanded far beyond its original intention, betraying our profound commitment to a free society.

How is it possible to conceive a society with ample social space for people to freely pursue their own ends and life projects, at the individual as well as  associational levels, while unjust gender, class, ethnicity and other social divisions and stratifications can be publicly identified and collectively tackled? Rawls’s vision of political liberalism with the idea of reasonable pluralism offers a promising answer to this question and points to a direction of effective “indirect” social betterment.

Liberalism has been criticized for its classical public-private distinction, for its inability to handle social injustice in so-called private spheres. Feminism has been an especially adamant critic, for gender injustice is typically identified in the sphere of the family. It may be considered that political liberalism exacerbates the problem as it claims that it is liberalism only for the public domain. In fact, this is not the case. Rawls  falls short of vindicating his own theory. This presentation aims at a better understanding of the potentials of Rawls’s political liberalism as a sociological theory.