UW The Critical Normative Theory of City Life Summary

Text for a Critical Summaries:

Young, Iris Marion, 1990. City Life and Difference. Justice and the Politics of Difference. NJ: Princeton University Press.

Some guidelines to write a critical summary of Young’s “City and the Difference”.

Terms and names

Cartesian rationality

Critical theory/critical normative theory

Liberal democracy

Liberal individualism versus communitarianism

Participatory democracy

Welfare capitalist society

Cultural imperialism

Jean-Jacque Rousseau

Hegel

Sartre

Michael Sandel

Benjamin Barber

Seyla Benhabib

John Rawls

David Harvey 

1. Before reading, check the above-mentioned concepts and names in encyclopedias. You can list entries from encyclopedias in your reference list too.
2. Read about Iris Young, even Wikipedia can be ok as some initial introduction. Do not cite Wikipedia!
3. Read the article for the first time, underline the terms and processes you are struggling to fully understand.
4. Check the terms you have difficulties understanding, and which I have not highlighted above (if any).

Potential points of your summary:

You evaluate Young’s ideas.

Introduction:

1. Theoretical questions/problems. What is her theoretical background? In which terms does she describe the problem, and what is the problem?
2. Definitional questions. Does the author define the concepts in a way that is intelligible enough to grasp the problem?
3. Focus either on analysing some potential practical applicability of Young’s insights of building a just urban society OR focus on the utopian character of the author’s narrative. Then you build your thesis statement based on your understanding of Young’s piece (utopian or politically applicable).

Body

1. Analyse the way Iris Young places ideas (and ideals) of urban social (and political) justice in relation to the existing theories and practices of liberal democracy, participatory democracy, politics of difference and their discontents.
2. Support your thesis statement with theoretical and practical implications from the text.
3. Focus on the way the author narrates about the dysfunctions of modern urban life.