Philosophy Colloquium: "Systemic Marginalization as System Caging"

Join the Department of Philosophy to hear Dr. Dee Payton, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia, as she presents "Systemic Marginalization as System Caging."

Abstract: Systemic marginalization is an extremely dangerous form of oppression. In this paper, I give an account of one particular type of systemic marginalization, something I call system caging. Generally speaking, an individual is system caged when, due to a confluence of barriers, they are unable to participate in social systems to obtain necessary goods and services, and this leaves them without recourse. My account is strongly informed by four cases, each of which involves at least one of four general forms of system caging. I present the cases; I then outline the fundamental elements of my account of system caging, clarify the underlying metaphysics, and then analyze the cases in terms of the proposed account.

Dee Payton is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia. Prior to working at UVA, she was an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Howard University in DC, and she completed her PhD at Rutgers University in May 2021. Her research is primarily in analytic feminism and social metaphysics, and she is currently working on projects about the nature of systemic marginalization, the metaphysics of social properties, and the social construction of moral responsibility. Find out more at https://www.dpayton.org/