Reviving the Social Compact

Naomi Zack is professor of philosophy at the University of Oregon and is author of Applicative Justice: A Pragmatic Empirical Approach to Racial Injustice, White Privilegeand Black Rights: The Injustice of U.S. Police Racial Profiling and Homicide, The Ethicsand Mores of Race: Equality after the History of Philosophy, and Ethics for Disaster.

• Foreword by Ruth SampleAuthor’s Preface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction Part I – Politics, Race, Class, and Feminism1. Turbo-Charged Politics2. The Junction of Race3. The Political Creation of Class4. The Amazing Success of FeminismPart II –– The Need for the Social Compact5. The Social Contract and the Social Compact6. Natural Disaster in Society7. Unnatural Disaster in Nature8. Homelessness and Monetization9. Immigration and Expulsion ConclusionIndex

Elected officials have lost sight of Locke’s vision and the founders’ interpretation of the social contract. Government has become an arena for partisan bickering and turbocharged politics, where little is accomplished and the common good is ignored. According to Zack (Univ. of Oregon), when government protects only the few and elected officials lose their moral compass, everyone suffers. When tribalism and hyper-partisanship replace community and compromise is a dirty word, Americans must be saved from themselves. The challenge is for citizens to reimagine change and do what politicians refuse to do. Herein lies the concept of the social compact, in which a commonwealth (a small group) or a coalition instigates action when all levels of government “abdicate” responsibility in a vital area, such environmental matters or racial-ethnic discrimination. Zack views elections as “a bridge between the social compact and the social contract," which can be tantamount to a “revolution” in an era of intense polarization. She reminds readers what being a good citizen means: “Good citizenship requires a moral dimension, as well as knowledge and action."