chapter 25
...................................................................................................................................................RECOGNITION
AND
REDISTRIBUTION
...................................................................................................................................................patchen markell
For more than a decade, the concept of recognition has been a prominent
part of the landscape of academic political theory. As the term is commonly
used, to be recognized means to be seen or regarded—whether directly or
through the mediation of social and political institutions—under some
practically signiWcant description; that is, under a description that makes a
diVerence in the way its bearer is treated, perhaps even shaping the terms in
which she understands herself, and which thereby helps to conWgure her
powers and possibilities. Thus understood, the idea of recognition has served
as a point of connection between broad philosophical themes—the relation-
ship between freedom and intersubjectivity; the nature of identity and diVer-
ence—and the analysis of a wide range of concrete political topics:
multiculturalism in higher education (Taylor 1994 ), oYcial language policy,
aboriginal rights, and land claims (Tully 1995 ), gay and lesbian rights (Bower
1997 ), religious conXict (Thompson 2002 ), racism (Gooding-Williams 1998 ),
claims to national self-determination (Patten 2001 ), interstate conXict in
world politics (Ringmar 2002 ), sexual domination (Benjamin 1988 ), repar-