Being Relational
Being Relational
Reflections on Relational Theory and Health Law
Relational theory has recently gained prominence in philosophy, women’s and gender studies, and bioethics. Yet it has not made substantial inroads into many areas of law and policy. Being Relational seeks to remedy this situation by bringing this powerful theoretical framework to the field of health law and policy.
At the heart of relational theory lies the idea that the human self is fundamentally constituted in terms of its relations to others. For relational theorists, the self not only lives in relationship with and to others, but also owes its very existence to such relationships. In this groundbreaking collection, leading relational theorists explore the key concepts of autonomy, judgment, equality, justice, memory, identity, and conscience. In response, health policy and law scholars analyze how such considerations might be brought to bear on pressing issues such as reproduction, allocation of scarce resources, Aboriginal health, mental health, and animal experimentation.
Innovative and self-reflexive, Being Relational makes a bold contribution to law and policy studies that will appeal to a broad range of scholars, especially those with an interest in social justice, and who seek to challenge oppression and understand the complex ways in which power is created and sustained relationally.
This book will be of interest to a wide range of audiences, including scholars concerned with feminist ethics, law, political theory, and health policy; legal scholars; moral psychologists; social theorists; applied ethicists; social movement theorists; anthropologists and economists; and others concerned with social justice and the relational mechanisms of power.
A significant contribution to the development of relational theory and to an understanding of its value in application to concrete health policy matters. This book brings together new contributions that demonstrate the rich potential for this approach in addressing pressing social and ethical issues relating to health policy.
A good addition to legal theory, and a useful resource for legal policy and activism. The authors have sought to move beyond the established work in the area, and often challenge and further develop it.
Introduction / Jennifer J. Llewellyn and Jocelyn Downie
Part 1 – Relational Theory
1 Relational Autonomy and Global Threats / Susan Sherwin
2 The Reciprocal Relation of Judgment and Autonomy: Walking in Another’s Shoes and Which Shoes to Walk In / Jennifer Nedelsky
3 A Relational Approach to Equality: New Developments and Applications / Christine M. Koggel
4 Restorative Justice: Thinking Relationally about Justice / Jennifer J. Llewellyn
5 The Self in Situ: A Relational Account of Personal Identity / Françoise Baylis
6 Memory, Reparation, and Relation: Starting in the Right Places / Sue Campbell
7 Taking a Feminist Relational Perspective on Conscience / Carolyn McLeod
Part 2 – Health Law and Policy
8 Relational Theory and Resource Allocation in Health Care: Accounting for Difference / Dianne Pothier
9 Resistance Is Essential: Relational Responses to Recent Law and Policy Initiatives Involving Reproduction / Jocelyn Downie
10 Relational Theory and Indigenous Health: Insights for Law Reform and Policy Development / Constance MacIntosh
11 Insight Revisited: Relationality and Psychiatric Treatment Decision-Making Capacity / Sheila Wildeman
12 Non-Human Animals and Human Health: A Relational Approach to the Use of Animals in Medical Research / Maneesha Deckha
List of Contributors; Index
