Iris Marion Young Replies

Jean Elshtain and Margaret Steinfels and I agree at least on one thing: too many children are poor, badly educated, at risk of being un- or underemployed, becoming substance dependent, criminal, or dead. What we disagree on are the solutions to these problems. Indeed, for all their strong language, I find neither offering any action. Calls for “secure institutions,” restoring the “fabric of families,” and living up to “strong responsibilities” are empty exhortations unless we specify just who should take responsibility to do what. The form of the rhetoric, moreover, leaves the impression- that it’s “they” and not “we” who have shirked responsibilities. This vague rhetoric ...