What's Wrong with Lookism?

What's Wrong with Lookism? by Andrew Mason

People are treated differently as a result of their looks. But when is appearance discrimination, or "lookism" as it is often called, morally objectionable? This issue is important for at least two reasons. First, the benefits that flow to people who are regarded as visually attractive are sizeable and are enjoyed in a number of contexts, including employment, personal relationships, education, politics, and the criminal justice system. Second, appearance discrimination is of moral interest not only in its own right, but also in terms of its connection to other forms of discrimination. Appearance norms, that is, norms concerning how we should look, often place greater burdens on disadvantaged groups. As a result, discrimination on the basis of appearance, when it rewards people who conform to these norms, may involve, or interact with, the effects of, wrongful discrimination on the basis of features other than appearance, in a way that aggravates existing injustices. What's Wrong with Lookism? examines the morality of appearance discrimination in three contexts: employment decisions; the choice of friends or romantic partners; and the everyday practice of judging and commenting upon people's looks. Andrew Mason develops a pluralist theory of what makes discrimination wrong that identifies three wrong-making features, namely, disrespect, deliberative unfairness, and contributing to unjust consequences, and demonstrates how the presence of one or more of these features in each of these contexts problematises the lookism that takes place in it.

RecommendedGraduate students and faculty. * Choice *
Mason's book shows how good applied philosophy can be. It raises deep theoretical issues (not just about the moral significance of discrimination but about the nature of wrongness in general and of agency) while committing to practical implications that can guide moral decision-making and policy reforms. Mason's approach highlights the fruitfulness of systematically considering the variety of complaints, interests, and reasons at play in a moral phenomenon while resisting the temptation to reduce these to a single dimension of importance. * Julian David Jonker, Ethics *

Andrew Mason is Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick. He has also held posts at the Universities of St Andrews, Oxford, Hull, Reading, and Southampton, and visiting fellowships at the European University Institute, KU Leuven, Goethe University Frankfurt, and Aarhus University. He is the author of several books, including Living Together as Equals (OUP, 2012), Levelling the Playing Field (OUP, 2006), and Community, Solidarity and Belonging (CUP, 2000).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780192859792
ISBN 10	019285979X
Title	What's Wrong with Lookism?
Author	Andrew Mason
Series	New Topics In Applied Philosophy
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2023-07-27
Number of pages	256
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable