Contributions of the Theory of Communicative Acts to Social Justice

The analysis of social interaction is crucial in the understanding of social justice. Accordingly, the theory of communicative acts contributes clarifications about whether there is freedom or coercion in a relationship (work-based, social, friendship, intimate, etc.). Communicative acts overcome the limitations of Searle’s approach to speech acts and Habermas’ use of speech acts in his theory of communicative action. Unlike them, it involves verbal and non-verbal communication, the dialogic and power interactions in the social structure and the ethics of responsibility, beyond intentionality. Within power interactions, beyond physical or psychological power, we distinguish between institutional power and interactive power (Racionero, Puigvert, et al 2022). When a subordinate is invited for coffee by her superior after work, she may accept the invitation, but an institutional power exists in the hierarchical relationship that constraints the subordinate’s freedom. When a young adolescent is accepting to participate in a risky viral challenge prompted by peers, is he/she taking a free decision? There is here an interactive power which emerges from peer pressure. When a Roma girl says she does not want to study because she wants to marry young, is her assertion free? The analysis of communicative acts, with all its dimensions, is embedded in the theory of the Dialogic Society (Flecha, 2022) developed from the School of Barcelona. Therefore, it must be done with a dialogic orientation, in co-creation with all actors involved, through a dialogue that transforms the constraints identified resulting in increased social justice.