Feminist Studies

Is Utilitarianism Bad for Women?

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Philosophers and policy-makers concerned with the ethics, economics, and
politics of development argue that the phenomenon of “adaptive preference”
makes preference-utilitarian measures of well-being untenable. Poor women in the
Global South, they suggest, adapt to deprivation and oppression and may come to
prefer states of affairs that are not conducive to flourishing. This critique, however,
assumes a questionable understanding of preference utilitarianism and, more
fundamentally, of the concept of preference that figures in such accounts.
If well-being is understood as preference satisfaction, it is easy to see why
poor women in the Global South are badly off: even if they do not desire more
favorable conditions, they nevertheless prefer them, and that preference is not
satisfied. Preferentism provides a rationale for improving economic conditions and
dismantling the unjust institutions that prevent them from climbing higher on their
preference rankings. Utilitarianism, therefore, insofar as utility is understood as
preference satisfaction, is good for women.

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: ., 2017

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English

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