ABSTRACT
Theorists of discrimination ask a great many questions about discrimination. Theorists of oppression and injustice have long argued that we ought to craft theories and concepts that facilitate resistance and, ultimately, liberation. By Shakur's own lights, 'respect' is exactly the kind of concept to which historically marginalized persons can appeal in order to explain why discrimination against them is both wrong and ought to be resisted. This chapter articulates several conceptions of disrespect, each of which provides a special way to understand the way in which wrongful discrimination is disrespectful. Police who engage in profiling, he writes, are not necessarily treating persons disrespectfully. Citing the misidentification objection, theorists often argue that respect-focused theories of wrongful discrimination are hopeless. A more direct theory would also locate the wrong of discrimination in a more plausible place. According to Eidelson's revised theory, when discrimination is wrong, it is wrong because of something defective in the minds of individuals or in collective decision-making processes.
