Iris Marion Young’s Social Connection Model of Responsibility is a theory about how we should understand responsibility for structural injustice—harms that arise not from individual wrongdoing, but from the normal, ongoing functioning of social systems.

Below is a clear, structured explanation.

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1. What is “structural injustice”?

For Young, structural injustice occurs when:

• Social structures (markets, laws, institutions, cultural norms)

• Systematically advantage some groups and disadvantage others

• Even though no single individual intends or causes the harm

Examples:

• Global sweatshop labor

• Racial segregation and wealth inequality

• Gendered labor markets

• Climate injustice

These injustices persist because many ordinary actions—buying goods, hiring workers, voting, following norms—together produce unjust outcomes.

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2. The problem with traditional models of responsibility

Young argues that standard models of responsibility are inadequate for structural injustice.

a. Liability model (traditional moral/legal responsibility)

This model asks:

• Who caused the harm?

• Who intended it?

• Who can be blamed or punished?

Problem:
Structural injustices often have:

• No clear perpetrator

• No malicious intent

• No single causal agent

So the liability model leaves us saying:

“No one is responsible,”
even though the injustice clearly exists.

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3. The Social Connection Model: the core idea

Young proposes an alternative: responsibility based on social connection, not blame.

Central claim:

Individuals bear responsibility for structural injustice because they participate in and benefit from the social processes that produce it, even if they did nothing wrong individually.

Responsibility here is:

• Forward-looking (about what we should do)

• Shared (distributed across many actors)

• Political, not moralistic or punitive

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4. Key features of the Social Connection Model

1. Responsibility without blame

• You can be responsible without being guilty

• Responsibility does not imply:

  • Moral fault

  • Shame

  • Punishment

It implies:

• An obligation to work toward changing unjust structures

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2. Shared responsibility

• Structural injustice is produced collectively

• Responsibility is distributed across all who participate

  • Consumers

  • Corporations

  • Governments

  • Citizens

  • Professionals

No one is “off the hook,” but no one bears total responsibility either.

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3. Forward-looking responsibility

Unlike liability, this model focuses on:

• What should be done now

• How to reduce or transform unjust structures

The question is not:

“Who caused this?”

But:

“Given our position in these structures, what ought we to do?”

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4. Responsibility varies by social position

Young identifies four parameters that affect the degree and form of responsibility:

1. Power – How much ability you have to influence institutions

2. Privilege – How much you benefit from the injustice

3. Interest – How strongly you are affected by the injustice

4. Collective ability – Whether you can act with others to create change

For example:

• A multinational corporation has more responsibility than an individual consumer

• Citizens in wealthy countries have more responsibility regarding global labor injustice than those in poor countries

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5. What does fulfilling this responsibility look like?

Responsibility is exercised primarily through collective political action, such as:

• Supporting institutional reform

• Participating in social movements

• Pressuring corporations or governments

• Changing policies and norms

• Organizing with others

It is not mainly about:

• Personal purity

• Individual charity

• Isolated consumer choices (though these may matter secondarily)

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6. Why this model matters

Young’s model:

• Avoids unfairly blaming individuals for systemic problems

• Avoids letting everyone escape responsibility

• Provides a framework for democratic and collective solutions

• Fits modern global injustices better than blame-based ethics

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7. One-sentence summary

The Social Connection Model holds that individuals are responsible for addressing structural injustice insofar as they participate in and benefit from the social processes that produce it, even when they are not personally at fault, and that this responsibility is shared, forward-looking, and political rather than blame-based.