inion. His suggestion was a system of proportional representation which would grant people the sort of recognition they deserved on the political scene. In fact, groups are now many and varied, characterised by a number of factors, and affected by more forms of inclusion and exclusion than mere political representation.Inherent in the term is a notion of the overall value of a group, either to the individuals in it or the society as a whole. For a group to be granted rights over and above everyone else in a society, it must be recognised that their existence as a separate group is a useful and desirable thing, "Unlike the contractual obligations which underpin membership of a voluntary society, membership of a group defines ones very identity." (Stapleton) That is the view of Iris Marion Young, who advocates special rights which would supplant equal treatment in public policy making. The idea is that these special rights would undermine the effects of oppression and discrimination felt by members of those groups. While there can be no doubt that groups are valuable, this doesn't come anywhere near solving the problem of how best to protect them. For instance her suggestion that groups could have he power to veto decisions which affect them directly would actually lead to a society in which every decision could be vetoed until the oppression and disadvantage is reversed. Although it is suggested that this could be an 'introductory measure,' what's to stop a group vetoing an end to their right to veto. Also, as Kymlicka points out the oppressed groups she refers to would cover 80% of the US population, which defeats the point. One of the things to note here is that Young also advocates the 'self identification' of groups, which is problematic because it undermines the validity of existing groups if a 'counter group' can just identify themselves as being marginalised by the first.Significantly, Taylor thinks that genuine recognition, as o...
