Perceived subordination stems from others’ accessible options, not their probable actions

Evidence

Why should I be forced to think of myself in this way, it may be asked, if the other person is really no more likely to interfere with me than I with them? The answer takes us back to a consideration already mentioned in the last chapter. Seeing an option as an improbable choice for an agent, even as a vanishingly improbable choice, is different from seeing it as a choice that is not accessible to the agent: seeing it as a choice that is not within the agent’s power. Thus the fact that another person is unlikely to interfere with me, just because they happen to have no interest in interfering, is consistent with their retaining access to the option of interfering with me. Now it is the attribution of accessible choices, not the attribution of probable choices, that determines how I and others view a person and, in particular, whether we view them as someone on whom I depend for enjoying non-interference (Pettit and Smith 1996). — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 431

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core republican distinction: accessibility of choices (what is in an agent’s power) rather than probability of choice determines dependency and status.
• XREF: connects to: Positive stereotypes can justify subordination more effectively than negative ones — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 2956; Subordination stops being degrading once framed as impersonal technique — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 764; Stereotyped groups unknowingly fulfill others’ negative expectations, locking in their subordination — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2944 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Positive stereotypes can justify subordination more effectively than negative ones #complicates (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2956
• Stereotyped groups unknowingly fulfill others’ negative expectations, locking in their subordination #expands (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2944
• Subordination stops being degrading once framed as impersonal technique #complicates (0.70) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 764
• Freedom as non-domination is conceptually inseparable from reducing uncertainty, strategy, and subordination #complicates (0.70) — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 441