ABSTRACT
This chapter creates an evaluative framework with which to consider the cultural practices for caregiving that can play a role in a just society—for societies that do not share the US’s particular emphasis on individual choice. It evaluates arranged marriage in relation to extended families as components of social practices to secure caregiving, which I call customary care practices. I defend a set of three metrics along which societies may evaluate themselves. The specification of these metrics—the practice’s respect for the autonomy of the individual participants, the practice’s satisfaction of a conception of fairness that is informed by people from that society, and the society’s overall success at meeting its members’ legitimate needs for care—will vary in different societies. I leave open the specification of particular practices of care in a just society because the transparency that the arrow of care map provides will require adjusting our intuitions and judgments about caregiving and its crucial role in human life. The outcome of the two-level contract theory device will vary in different societies, but the core justificatory device remains constant across societies.
