'Vulnerability': Handle with Care
'Vulnerability': Handle with Care
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DOI：
10.1080/17496535.2011.597165
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发表时间：
2011-01-01
影响因子：
1
通讯作者：
Brown, Kate
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Brown, Kate
“脆弱性”现在是日常生活词汇中的一个流行术语，也是政策制定者、学者、记者、福利工作者和地方当局经常引用的一个概念。本文探讨了“脆弱性”作为社会福利概念的一些伦理和实践含义。它强调了有关脆弱性的想法如何塑造我们管理和分类人的方式、证明国家干预公民生活的合理性、分配社会资源以及定义我们的社会义务。缺乏明确性和有限的分析，在福利领域的“脆弱性”的概念被强调为关注，特别是考虑到那些被视为最需要的支持似乎是牵连在共同持有的观点“的脆弱性”。我认为，远非无害，“脆弱性”是如此充满政治，道德和实际的影响，它是潜在的破坏社会正义的追求。为了说明“脆弱性”是一个应该更加谨慎处理的概念，提出了这一概念的两种相反的表述。
'Vulnerability' is now a popular term in the lexicon of every-day life and a notion frequently drawn upon by policy-makers, academics, journalists, welfare workers and local authorities. This essay explores some of the ethical and practical implications of 'vulnerability' as a concept in social welfare. It highlights how ideas about vulnerability shape the ways in which we manage and classify people, justify state intervention in citizens' lives, allocate resources in society and define our social obligations. The lack of clarity and limited analysis of the concept of 'vulnerability' in welfare arenas is highlighted as concerning, particularly given that those seen as most in need of support seem to be implicated in commonly held views about 'the vulnerable'. I argue that far from being innocuous, 'vulnerability' is so loaded with political, moral and practical implications that it is potentially damaging to the pursuit of social justice. Two opposing presentations of the notion are set out in order to illustrate that 'vulnerability' is a concept that should be handled with more care.